Far Hills was incorporated as a borough on April 7, 1921, from portions of Bernards Township. Anticipating the demand for country properties was Evander H. Schley, a land developer and real estate broker from New York State. He bought several thousand acres of farmland, some of it sight unseen, in Bedminster and Bernards townships in the 1880s.
One day in 1887, Schley’s brother, Grant, and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived by horse-drawn carriage to see Evander’s farms. Elizabeth is said to have remarked on the beautiful vista of the “far hills,” thus giving the name to the place before a village was built.