The Gilded Age
in the Ramapo Valley

A September 2025 – June 2026 Mahwah Museum Exhibit

Travel back in time to discover how a quiet agricultural town was transformed by wealthy New York power brokers who built mansions, factories, and world-class farms and stockyards. Through historical maps, period costumes, photographs, and rare artifacts, the exhibit explores what Mahwah was like, who lived there, and how life changed during the dramatic years between 1870 and 1900. Once the railroad put Mahwah on the map, the bankers, industrialists, and inventors who established grand country estates brought technological change, new immigrants, and innovations that reshaped the town—leaving a legacy still visible today.