Vineland was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 28, 1880, from portions of Landis Township, based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier.

[1][2][3] Festivities on July 1, 1952, when the merger took effect, included a parade and speeches from such notables as Senator Estes Kefauver.

[4] Charles K. Landis purchased 20,000 acres (81 km2) of land in 1861, near Millville, New Jersey, and along an existing railroad line with service to Philadelphia, to create his own alcohol-free utopian society based on agriculture and progressive thinking.

The first houses were built in 1862, and train service was established to Philadelphia and New York City, with the population reaching 5,500 by 1865.

This facility was sufficiently well known that one American Prison Association pamphlet in 1955 heralded Vineland as "famous for its contributions to our knowledge of the feebleminded".