Harrington Park was formed on March 29, 1904, from portions of Harrington Township and Washington Township, and parts of the borough of Closter. The name "Harrington Park" was based on the larger Harrington Township from which it was in part derived, which in turn was based on the family name Haring, who were early settlers of the region
Education
The Emerson School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2014–15 school year, the district and its three schools had an enrollment of 1,238 students and 98.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. Schools in the district (with 2014-15 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Memorial Elementary School[104] with 297 students in PreK-2, Patrick M. Villano Elementary School with 335 students in grades 3-6 and Emerson Jr./Sr. High School with 572 students in grades 7-12
Transportation
The Emerson station, located at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Kinderkamack Road, provides service on NJ Transit's Pascack Valley Line. This line runs north–south to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to NJ Transit one-stop service to New York Penn Station and to ten other NJ Transit rail lines. Connections are available at the Hoboken Terminal to other NJ Transit rail lines, the PATH train at the Hoboken PATH station, New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service. NJ Transit provides bus service on the 165 route to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan