The Fritz Behnke Historical Museum of Paramus

330 Paramus Road

Paramus, NJ  07652

(201) 445-1804

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Open: Sunday-1:00pm-5:00pm

Fee-Free with donations

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46712-d4973052-Reviews-Fritz_Behnke_Historical_Museum-Paramus_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Contact & Directions

http://www.ParamusHistoricalMuseum.com

Driving Directions:

From Highway 17 & 4 proceed west on Route 4 approximately 1 mile to Paramus Road. Exit toward Ridgewood. Continue north through the traffic light. Pass a cemetery and a golf course. The museum is next on the right.

The front of the Fritz Behnke Historical Museum on 330 Paramus Road

I visited The Fritz Behnke Historical Museum of Paramus, NJ the other day after passing it for many years and found a smaller museum that told the history of Paramus, NJ. It has interesting displays on the agricultural past of the County of Bergen. Fred Behnke, the founder’s son, took me on the tour of his father’s masterpiece and I found the displays to be interesting and engaging.

The Grist Mill sign from the old mill

The Grist Mill pieces in the new display outside the museum

The sign that welcomes you to the museum

The Glacier Rock in the front of the museum

The farming hoe display in the front of the museum

He showed me equipment that had been in his family for generations and some of the Indian artifacts that his family had found on the property which gave more depth to the history of the property as it had been farmed by local Native American tribes.

The Fritz Behnke Historical Museum contains 2 floors of artifacts dating back to the early 1900’s when there were many farms in the Bergen County area.

Take the time to visit the basement and watch their history video. It is very interesting short on the history of the museum and the borough of Paramus. If you are from Bergen County and grew up here in the 70’s and 80’s, you will recognize a lot of the changes that have happened over the last forty years. It is a real reflection on the changes of Bergen County, NJ over the last 100 years. The museum is only open on Sunday’s so plan accordingly.

The Farming gallery in the basement in of the museum

The Behnke family farming equipment

The farming equipment on display for use on the farm

The farm crops and the recreation around the farm

The Egg Sorter and the Dairy industry for milking and bottles

The main floor had an exhibit of Police and Fire Department memorabilia, an being the exhibit displaying  the history of Bergen Pines County Hospital and a display of an old school room. This was Paramus during different eras.

The Paramus Fire Department

The Paramus Fire Department

The Police and Fire Department displays

The hospital display

The School room display from the turn of the century until today

There is an area showing household cleaning and laundry items, including one of the first electric washing machines, a duplicate of which is at the Smithsonian Museum. The kitchen area displays many old devices, used in cooking and includes an old ice box and a wood-burning stove as well as a early gas stove.

The Farmhouse kitchen

The Children’s Toy exhibition

The toys that have not changed over the years for children to enjoy

The Kids Room contains many old toys such as strap-on ice and roller skates, dolls, doll houses and cast metal farm tractors. In the parlor area there are old wind up phonographs and a church organ. In the corridors there are many photographs showing the Paramus of yesteryear.

The 1930’s items in the room

The room in the 1930’s and 40’s

The history of Paramus, NJ is explained at the museum

On the lower lever is an interesting 12-minute video presentations on the history of Paramus. There are also displays of woodworking, blacksmithing and farming. The farm display depicts the two distinct differences in Paramus farming that of the celery farms in the muck soil on the west side of town and vegetable farms in the brown soil on the east side of town. There are many different farming items displayed including an egg sorting machine and a shovel hand carved from one piece of wood.

The history of the radios and record player

More household items over time

The bottles and glass insulators from the top of telephone poles

Special Notes in History provided by the museum:

The History of Sprout Brook: Long before Route 17 was built through the center of Paramus, Sprout Brook also ran north to south through meadows and woodland, which abounded with wildlife. Beginning in the northwest, it rambled through the rich black soil or ‘muck’ that had once been a lake bottom.

The dark soil farm on one side of the brook

The Light Farm soil on the other side of the stream

As farmers discovered the rich soil, they dug ditches off the brook to irrigate their celery farms. At that time, Paramus was nationally known for its celery farm production. As the water flowed southeast, it bordered on higher ground called ‘upland’, which was also fertile soil conducive to growing a variety of vegetables like corn, tomatoes and cabbage.

The Sprout Brook history and farming

In the early Spring, the farmers planted their seed in greenhouses and waited until the last frost passed. The plants were then transported outside to the filed where they were cultivated and watered until they became mature enough to harvest. Produce was taken by horse and wagon and later by truck crossing the Hudson river via ferry board to the markets in New York City.

The colored eggs from different species of chickens

After all the produce was sold, they returned home late in the evening only to rise early the next morning to begin preparing the vegetables to take to market that night. It was a ‘family affair’ and farmers often helped each other with their harvests when extra hands were needed.

An early plow of an early design

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, roadside stand selling produce for extra income was common. Families driving through Paramus from New York City often frequented these produce stands along Route 4, Ridgewood Avenue, Paramus Road and Farview Avenue.

Items for life on the farm

The Farms of Bergen County, NJ

Sprout Brook is an integral part of the history of Paramus. It divided the Borough’s two school districts; the children living east of the Sprout Brook attended Farview School and Hackensack High School and those west of Sprout Brook attended Midland School and Ridgewood High School. In later years, two middle schools were built and appropriately named “Eastbrook” and “Westbrook”. In 1957, Paramus High School was built bringing the town together in one school. Voting districts were also determined by residents living east and west of Sprout Brook.

The Paramus High School Display

History of the Lenape Indians: The Indians of Bergen County, the Lenni Lenape Indians settled in the area for many reasons. The climate was ideal all year so they could survive during the winter months. Also the Ramapo Mountains made an ideal place to live. The shale rock overhangs were like caves that provided protection from the weather. There was abundant water in the area from the Hackensack and Saddle Rivers, Sprout Brook and many ponds that provided good fishing and navigation.

The Lenape Native American display

The wild animals in the area came to drink at these waterways thus providing great opportunities for hunting. The land was also fertile, which made for good farming such as corn (or Maize) and other root crops. These crops attracted many birds such as quail, pheasant and of course, the wild turkey which hare still in the area today.

Our early settlers traded with the Indians. Mrs. Lawrence, the one room school teacher was of Indian descent. As the early farmers in the area plowed their fields, they found arrowheads, tomahawks and grinding stones. The Lenni Lenape called this area “Perapepus”, which meant rich or fertile land. Through the years, the name changed several times until it became Paramus.

The museum also has the history of the Paramus Fire and Police Departments as well as the early Bergen Pines Hospital.

The history of the Police and Fire Departments

The Military display

There was also a wonderful display of old businesses in Bergen County. For many residents who grew up in the area will recognize from the 1960’s and 1970’s. There were menus, dishes and meal set ups on display reminding us of dining from that era.

Businesses from Paramus and from Bergen County

Businesses in Paramus and Bergen County, NJ

The new “Fireplace Hamburger” display for the well-known restaurant that closed during COVID

*This little gem of a museum is only open one day a week but can be opened to accommodate groups so please call the museum for details. The museum is free to the public but please leave a donation to help with the costs of the museum. It is well worth the trip if you like the history early farming communities or want the know the history of Bergen County.

The Paramus Quilt display

The “Whatchamacallit” display

My Marketing Class at Bergen Community College Project promoting the museum:

The Blog on the whole project:

https://mywalkinmanhattan.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=57059&action=edit

In October of 2024, I partnered with the museum to a Destination Tourism project to assist the museum in targeting to a new visitor with new Digital Marketing. I thought the museum had a lot of potential that had not been tapped into and thought this would be the perfect challenge to for the students to give the museum a fresh perspective.

I made an appointment with the staff at the museum and asked if they would partner with me for a Marketing project and they gladly accepted.

I arranged the class to have a field trip to the Behnke Museum during class time but I also arranged an extra credit trip the Sunday before so the students could get a glimpse of the museum ahead of time.

My class on their field trip to the Behnke Museum in Paramus, NJ

Then during class time we took a more formal tour of the museum with the founder’s son, Fred Behnke and his Volunteer Board, who gave us a better perspective of the museum.

The students at the Behnke Museum during our field trip

The class getting the tour from the founder’s son, Fred Behnke

After the tour was over, our class took a group picture

I had the students write a paper on their thoughts of improving the museum and the broke them into groups based on their thoughts. They had one week to put their game plan together and then they presented it to myself and the museum.

This is their presentation:

The Student Consultants had a week to put the Presentation together and create a commercial to promote the museum and their PowerPoint on their ideas to create excitement at the museum. Here is their project Presentation and PowerPoint on the project. Please remember that they had seven days to do this.

The PowerPoint:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1atn7BlTHfG88tND0P8fU1yNzmEpFrEG4/view?usp=gmail

The Video of the Presentation:

https://www.youtubeeducation.com/watch?v=krZNmHevETA

The Team Picture after the Behnke Museum Presentation to the Museum Volunteer Staff:

The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Paramus Team for the Behnke Museum

The Behnke Museum Volunteer Staff was impressed with the students ideas and thought there was a lot good ideas that they can use.

Commercial Group One:

Commercial Group Two:

Marketing Commercial Team Two:

Commercial Group Three:

Marketing Commercial Team Three:

Commercial Group Four:

I could see by the reaction of the museum that they were please with the project and I hope it helps them in the future. It really is a great museum.