Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Dunkerhook Paramus, NJ

Paramus is a borough in Bergen County that was incorporated on April 4, 1922, when a referendum passed 238 to 10 to create it from portions of Midland Township, which survives today as Rochelle Park.

The borough's name derives from the Lenape word Peremessing, usually translated as 'land of the turkeys' or 'pleasant stream,' and a large metal statue of a wild turkey at the Paramus Park mall commemorates that origin.

According to the 2020 census, Paramus had a population of 26,698 people living in 8,448 households.

Paramus is one of the largest shopping destinations in the United States, generating over $6 billion in annual retail sales — more than any other ZIP Code in the country.

The borough has five major indoor shopping centers, anchored by Westfield Garden State Plaza at the intersection of Routes 4 and 17, which opened in 1957 along with the Bergen Mall as department-store anchors drew New York shoppers across the state line.

Despite its retail dominance, Paramus enforces some of the most restrictive blue laws in the United States, closing nearly all retail stores on Sundays except gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores and a few other businesses.

Van Saun County Park, a 130-acre Bergen County park in Paramus and River Edge, is home to the Bergen County Zoological Park, which opened in 1960 and features the Safari Express miniature railroad.

Paramus High School, which serves roughly 1,125 students in grades 9–12, was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 1988–1989.

George Washington made Paramus his headquarters in July 1778 after the Battle of Monmouth and returned several times during the Revolutionary War, while Aaron Burr led an attack on British raiders there in 1777.

The borough's Dunkerhook section, whose name means 'dark corner' in Dutch, was a community of free African American farmers dating to the early 18th century.