Council Honors One of Fair Lawn's Formative Families

Seven of the , a leading family-owned building supplier and household name in the borough, were on hand at Tuesday's council meeting to receive a proclamation on their centennial anniversary this year.

Deputy Mayor John Cosgrove said bestowing the honor upon Kuiken Brothers was especially significant for him because his family and the Kuikens go back for over 100 years.

"Most of the Kuikens that were here tonight I grew up with," he said. "It’s an especially great privilege for myself to see the Kuikens and to see what this generation has done and built their company into one of the largest industrial leaders in the East Coast when it comes to building supplies."

Not only has Kuiken Brothers been in business in Fair Lawn for 100 years, the meeting to create the borough actually occurred in their office in 1924, and the company built many of the town’s original homes.

Both George Street and Edward Street are named after co-founder Nicholas Kuiken’s sons.

"When I ran the 75^th anniversary," Cosgrove said, "I did a lot of research and realized that Fair Lawn came to be and was driven by Nick Kuiken. He was the guy who sponsored it and pushed for Fair Lawn to become a borough back in 1924."

The Kuiken family emigrated from the Netherlands to New Jersey in the late 1800s, where brothers Henry and Nicholas settled in what is now Fair Lawn. Older brother Dirk and cousin Richard, Sr. soon joined them and in 1912, using their sharply honed carpentering skills, they laid the foundation for Kuiken Brothers on what is now 6th Street.

Since the beginning, the Kuiken family took an interest in fostering the growth of the community through the formation of Fair Lawn's original fire company and the founding of the Fair Lawn Building and Loan Association (now Columbia Savings Bank) in 1927, and the Fair Lawn Radburn Trust Company (now part of Bank of America) in 1929.

Nicholas Kuiken was elected mayor of Fair Lawn in 1930 and served as a Bergen County freeholder from 1933 to 1941.

Today, Kuiken Brothers is a fourth-generation family company with 240 employees and nine locations across New Jersey and New York.

"We all have a deep love for Fair Lawn, even though some of us don’t live here anymore, we still come here every day," Douglas Kuiken said, thanking council for the proclamation. "We love this community and we’re proud to have been instrumental in the forming of Fair Lawn many years ago with our family founders and fathers."

For more information on the company, visit www.kuikenbrothers.com, call (201) 705-5375, or email info@kuikenbrothers.com.