History of Harrington Park

ACKNOWLEDGMENT It would be impractical to try to mention all the individuals and organizations which have so cheerfully helped in the preparation of this booklet. It would be less than gracious not to thank them, one and all, and inconsiderate to overlook any of them. All the committee in charge of the booklet’s preparation can say is many thanks to all those who supplied information, photographs, anecdotes and far from the least, labor.

Our Government

Harrington Township, from which Harrington Park was formed in 1904, was originally part of Old Hackensack Township from which it separated in 1775. Its earliest known settlers were the Harring family, and the earliest available reference to any individual is to Peter Harring who established a residence here in the early 17th century. A son, John, was born to the Harring family Dec. 20, 1633. Also prominently mentioned in early histories of the area are the Westervelts, the Blauvelts, the Ackermans, and the Ferdons.

In 1836, Harrington Township was reduced by half when Washington Township was formed.

Contemporary histories around 1880 say that nothing marred the rural seclusion of Harrington Township except the villages of Neuvy, Norwood, Rivervale and Randall, Closter, Frankfort, Demarest and Alpine. The area was served by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey and by the New York and Albany Rail Road.

The first reference to any school in these parts was one in 1726, but it was not until 1870 that there is any reference to a public school.

Harrington Park, now 50 years of age [Note: this was written in 1954] and in the prime of life, has had its share of growing pains. It weathered a stormy youth, marched off to fight the war to end all wars, cavorted in the devil-may-care days of Prohibition and felt the gnawing insecurity of the Great Depression. It assumed the responsibilities of young manhood when times were hardest, held firm through another war and then, more mature, surer of itself, took its rightful place in the council of communities.

The recorded history of Harrington Park began in 1904 with its incorporation as a borough, but to begin the story there would be like starting to read a book in the middle.

The region has a rich heritage dating back to the 17th century. Peter Harring, a north Hollander, built his home a few miles north of here, in the heart of a stream-laced forest long favored by the Leni Lenape Indians for the choice hunting and fishing it afforded. The Ackermans, Ferdons, Harrings and Blauvelts soon followed and the wilderness retreated westward from the plow and the axe. Harrington Township included all the land between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, to Rockland County on the north and Hackensack to the south, The tides of the Revolutionary War surged over the region.. Many battles and skirmishes were fought on land now dotted with modern homes and schools. The Baylor Massacre took place in 1778 in a barn on the Harring property in what is now Rivervale. A British forage party under  the command of Major General “No Flint” Grey surprised 104 Colonials as they slept in Harring’s barn, put 27 to the sword and captured 40 others.

The section prospered with the advent of independence. Grist mills and saw mills accounted for much of the revenue. The first of a series of geographical changes that were to mold the northern part of Bergen County occurred in 1836. Washington Township was formed from the western half of Harrington Township. As the years passed, first one and then another borough broke off from the Township to make their own way and Harrington Township soon was no more.

Harrington Park took its first step along the road to complete autonomy on May 2, 1904, when Mayor John J. Bogert and Councilmen Hiram J. Angevine. William C. Herring, John N. Farrar, Herbert Quinting and Edward C. Striffler held the first meeting of the Borough Council in Borcher’s Hotel on Tappan Road. A week later the Borough’s by-laws were adopted. Many still are on the books including Article IV, Section 2 that says, “If no quorum be present at any meeting, these assembled shall have the power and are hereby authorized to send a marshal or any other person by them empowered, for the mayor or absent councilmen, or both.” The Borough deposited its first recorded revenue at about the same time–$850 as its share of the assets of the Township.

Harrington Park already was a station on the railroad when the Borough was incorporated. It was a neat, little town of quiet, rustic lanes. The La Roches, Harriots and Demarests were among the respected families of the time. A small, attractive real estate brochure listed its virtues for the prospective property buyer. The Borough’s biggest problem was what to do about stray dogs.

The Borough grew to the geographic size we know it today in 1907 when, after a court fight, Washington Township turned over the land west of Bogert Mill Bridge, extending to Old Hook Road. But, by comparison, its population growth was gradual.

The Borough made far-reaching decisions during the next few years, prior to World War I. The Board of Health was established by ordinance, the fire and police departments were organized on a voluntary basis and contracts were let for street lighting and street paving. Little was accomplished during the war years and in the immediate post-war period. Harrington Park, like communities the length and breadth of the nation, concentrated on winning the conflict. But, as the world righted itself, so did the Borough. The building code was adopted in 1922, the zoning ordinance was passed the following year and gas mains were installed in 1925, all in expectancy of a building upturn. The Borough’s first full-time policeman, Robert E. Burkhardt, was appointed in 1927 and a motorcycle was purchased to help him patrol the growing community. A year later Burkhardt, who resigned last year [1953] as police chief, was named acting chief.

Harrington Park turned its eyes to the west during the late 1920s and mapped plans for the most ambitious building program in its history – the development of the Park Section. In 1927 the Council authorized the expenditure of $110,793 for road grading and construction, sidewalks, curbs and drainage, but withheld final approval. There already were signs that all was not well with the nation’s financial citadels. The ominous black clouds that had been forming over Wall Street cut loose in 1929 and washed away the savings and dreams of millions in a sea of crumpled ticker tape. Harrington Park felt the pinch of the Depression as attested by municipal emergency relief rolls for the years 1931, 1932, 1933 and 1934. During that period the unemployed were put to work repairing roads and clearing lots. The hardest year was 1933 when 130 persons were in need of help at one time. To ease the situation a cooperative community garden plan was adopted and the unemployed raised their own crops.

In 1932, in the middle of this trying period, the Borough Council made a move considered by many to have been ill-timed and advised. It gave the go-ahead signal for the $110,793 Park Section development program, and obtained temporary loan bonds at six per cent interest to finance it. The next year saw the Borough with its back against the wall, financially. No funds were available for dependency relief. Municipal employees took a voluntary 10 per cent salary cut. The Closter National Bank refused to lend the Borough any more money. At that time the Borough owed the bank $136,350, including temporary improvement bonds for $104,000. In all, the Borough had contracted for $168,226 in improvements between 1927 and 1933. Chief Burkhardt went unpaid for three months and an attorney threatened to sue the Borough over a three-year-old bill for $2,500. The harried Council took steps to remedy the situation, even going so far as to discontinue the telephone in the police booth to save $3.50 a month. Just before the end of 1933 the Council put into effect a new zoning ordinance. It was the product of a two-year study and it outlawed, among other things, six-story apartment houses.

The Borough’s indebtedness to the bank as 1934 began was $113,000. To gain time for a better real estate market on property in the Park Section, the Council issued a refunding bond to cover the debt. Of the total debt, $91,830 was assessed against 70 plots in the Park Section. Thus, the Council hoped to collect $91,830 from land then valued at about $74,000. The Borough did manage, however, to lower its debt by $16,000 between 1931 and 1934.

The Council waged an uphill fight to trim its debt to the bank during the 1930s and early 1940s. Strict economy was the watchword as the nation headed into World War II. Building activity increased. The Council replaced its one-man assessor with a Board of Assessors in 1938.

But, the war caught up with the Borough and it was forced to mark time until peace was restored. The post-war period was one of prosperity. A building boom straddled Harrington Park. Property sales zoomed in the Park Section and north of Harriot Avenue. The upsurge that began in 1944 still is in progress today, particularly on the Borough’s eastern fringe. It accomplished wonders for the Borough’s books.  The final payment on the $113,000 bond issue was made in 1949 and the Borough was debt-free for the first time in decades. The payment injected virility into Harrington Park, attuning it to the tempo of the times and its next 50 years of life.