Before Glen Rock Was Glen Rock

Long before there was a borough called Glen Rock, this land was home to the Lenape, the Indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands. Their homeland stretched across what is now New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southeastern New York. English settlers later referred to them as the "Delaware" because many lived along the Delaware River.

Although no permanent Lenape village has been identified within present-day Glen Rock, archaeological evidence—including numerous stone arrowheads discovered throughout the borough—shows that they regularly hunted and traveled through this area. One of their principal trails followed the route of today's Rock Road, making it one of the oldest transportation corridors in Bergen County.

Along that trail stood the massive boulder that would eventually give the borough its name. The Lenape called it Pamachapuka, meaning "a large stone from the sky," recognizing it as an important landmark for travelers. (Visitors may notice that the current sign at The Rock contains a misspelling of the Lenape name, an error introduced when the original sign was replaced in 1984 after it had been stolen.)

For centuries, only about ten feet of the boulder projected above the surrounding ground. In 1912, when developers planned to extend Doremus Avenue through the site, The Rock was nearly blasted away. Thanks to the efforts of Councilman Bunce, the landmark was saved and the surrounding land was preserved as an official borough park, ensuring that Glen Rock's namesake would remain for future generations.

Dutch Farmers and Early Settlement

European settlement began during the seventeenth century as Dutch families expanded westward from the colony of New Netherland. Drawn by fertile soil and abundant water, they established farms that produced corn, barley, melons, strawberries, and many other crops.

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Like much of Bergen County, these farms relied heavily on enslaved labor. Bergen County ultimately became the largest slaveholding county in New Jersey, a reminder that slavery was deeply woven into the region's agricultural economy. By the middle of the eighteenth century, most Lenape had been forced from New Jersey through displacement and land loss. Today, many of their descendants live in Oklahoma, Ontario, and other parts of North America.

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Despite these changes, the community remained overwhelmingly rural. Dutch traditions endured for generations, and the Dutch language continued to be commonly spoken in Bergen County well into the twentieth century.

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A Farming Community

By the 1890s, roughly 600 people lived on about one hundred farms in what would soon become Glen Rock. Most farms contained around twenty-five acres—large enough to feed a family while producing surplus crops for sale in Paterson or, for the larger farms, New York City. Neighbors also frequently bartered goods and services with one another.

The village itself was small but self-sufficient. A handful of businesses served local needs, including seed stores, blacksmith shops, and mills along Diamond Brook. For most major purchases, however, residents traveled into nearby Paterson.

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Railroads had already arrived, with the Main Line opening in 1848 and the Bergen County Line following in the 1880s. Yet Glen Rock remained a quiet stop along the route. Before 1905 there was no station building—only a simple platform known as Ferndale, located near today's intersection of Ferndale Avenue and Main Street. Passengers often had to flag down passing trains if they wished to board.