Topic description:

Municipal centennial observances usually stress unity. They emphasize how, 100 years ago, determined citizens all worked together to create someplace new.  

But that’s not how it was in 1924, when Fair Lawn seceded from what was then the Township of Saddle River to become an independent borough -- “Flexit.’’ 

In Fair Lawn, whether to secede was a fight between two local groups – The Farmers and The Builders.  Secession pitted the borough's venerable truck farmers against a rising new class of merchants and real estate developers. It featured charges of vote-buying, threats of violence, allegations of “Ku Klux Klan’’ intimidation tactics, and a tug of war over an octogenarian Civil War veteran.

This struggle was part of a trend that swept across Northern New Jersey in the first quarter of the 20th century. There was even a term for it: “Boroughitis.’’

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