Garfield, NJ

Garfield sits at the meeting of the Passaic and Saddle rivers in southwestern Bergen County. The area was homeland of the Hackensack clan of the Lenape, and traces of stone fishing dams remain along the rivers. In 1679, a tract called Acqueyquinonke was purchased from the Lenape, extending from the Saddle River toward present-day Glen Rock. Gilbert D. Bogart built seven houses in 1873, when the developing area became known as East Passaic. Garfield separated as a borough in 1898 and became a city in 1917. The 2020 census counted 32,655 residents. Across roughly two square miles of land, its 2020 population density was 15,469 people per square mile.