Do You Know the Meaning of Fair Lawn's Borough Seal?

The official Borough Seal was unveiled on December 14, 1954 at a Council meeting presided over by Mayor George Richardson. The Borough had held a contest to design the coat of arms and selected the entry by local resident Bart Aisenbrey. A plaque of the seal adorns the wall of the dais in the  at Borough Hall.

The seal consists of gold (or yellow) figures on a green ground. The Native American and the man in Dutch colonial dress, taken from the Bergen County seal, represent the original inhabitants and the first settlers, respectively. The three plowshares, taken from the New Jersey state seal, represent the agricultural heritage of Fair Lawn. The sun stands for the “fair” in Fair Lawn and the green ground of the shield stands for the “lawn”. 'Fair Lawn' was the name of the estate of David D. Acker whose mansion was used as the Borough Hall for many years. A scroll bears the date of the Borough’s founding as a municipality, 1924.

See my next post about the Acker House.

Jane Lyle Diepeveen is Fair Lawn's town historian