A second was built in the Arcola region and a third one room school- house built in 1876 still stands today on Midland Avenue. Schools were important to the Paramus farmers. The school was on a bend in Dunkerhook Road near the Zabriskie farms slave cabins. The first known school house was a democratic place, a rough stone building built in 1726 where black and white children studied together. The Library of Congress exhibits thirty letters George Washington wrote headed “Headquarters Paramus.” Spring Valley Road first appeared on maps as early as 1780. General George Washington was a frequent traveler through Paramus during this time.

During the colonial years it was a main artery of travel for both the British and American armies during the American Revolution.

Paramus Road was once an Indian trail even before the arrival of the first settlers. The earliest recorded pioneers in Paramus included Jacob Epke Banta who patented land in 1686, Isaac Van Saun whose patent was dated back to 1695, and Albert Zabriskie whose land was deeded to him by Indians in 1702. It comes from the Lenape word “peramsepuss” sometimes translated as “land of the wild turkeys” or “fertile fields where turkeys are found.” A large metal statue of a wild turkey can be found today at the Paramus Park Mall. The native Lenni Lenape Indians gave Paramus its name.

When it was incorporated as a borough in 1922 it was a rural area of celery farms and dirt roads. Paramus was not always the land of enormous malls and shopping centers that has made it one of the top retail zip codes in the U.S.

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