THIS IS A LIST of suburbs across the country and the dates they took on their specific character. In many cases the dates are approximate. Discovering when a place becomes a suburb is rather difficult, and in some cases I have chosen a year based on the time when large numbers of heads of households began commuting, or from the beginning of dense streetcar service. On the other hand, some model suburbs such as Forest Hills Gardens, New York, existed as suburbs from the day the first family moved in.

One more caution: Many of the suburbs listed here are “hamlets,” neither incorporated municipalities in their own right nor places defined by the Postal Service. For instance, Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, a model suburb, is in one of the Oranges, which themselves fragmented in the late nineteenth century. And there are places on the list that long ago became absorbed by other towns, retaining a separate identity only on railroad timetables. I know this very well; I commute back and forth from Queen Anne’s Corner, Massachusetts, a crossroads that lies on the town border between Norwell and Hingham, and which is named on company maps and station signboards but does not appear in road atlases. No one knows why it has the name, but the stage line used it as a place to change horses en route to Cape Cod. Commuters clutching their white books of tickets take such strangely named places in stride, but woe to the summer visitor grasping a pink ticket.

—J. R. S.

COLONIAL SUBURBS

Harlem, N.Y., 1720

Whitehall, R.I., 1730

Medford, Mass., 1734

Beverly, Mass., 1745

Milton, Mass., 1755

Newton, Mass., 1765

STEAMBOAT SUBURBS
(All circa 1845–50)

Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

Tarrytown, N.Y.

Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Stony Point, N.Y.

RAILROAD SUBURBS

Naperville, 111., 1857

Lake Forest, III, 1861

Montclair, N.J., 1868

Plainfield, N.J., 1869

Rockville Centre, N.Y., 1870

Winchester, Mass., 1870

Orange, N.J., 1872

Newton, Mass., 1873

San Rafaël, Calif., 1874

Reading, Mass., 1875

West Orange, N.J., 1881

Fail-field, Conn., 1885

Darien, Conn., 1887

Pomona, Calif., 1888

Evanston, 111., 1892

Whitefish Bay, Wis., 1892

Melrose Park, Dl., 1893

Naugatuck, Conn., 1893

Carlstadt, N.J., 1894

Westwood, N.J., 1894

Teaneck, N.J., 1895

Metuchen, N.J., 1900

Oak Park, 111., 1901

Haddon Heights, N.J., 1904

Mineola, N.Y., 1906

Walnut Creek, Calif., 1914

Scarsdale, N.Y., 1915

Clifton, N.J., 1917

Secaucus, N.J., 1917

MODEL SUBURBS

Llewellyn Park, N.J., 1853

Riverside, 111., 1869

Roland Park, Md., 1891

Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1892

Country Club District of Kansas City, Mo.,