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Richmond County, Staten Island, New York
Including Port Richmond, Richmond Town, Historic Richmond Town, and Richmond Valley
Part I: Richmond County, Better Known as Staten Island
By Patricia M. Salmon
The original residents of what would become Staten Island were the Lenape. When translated Lenape means “original people.” They were members of the Alquonquin or Delaware Indians, and they called Staten Island “Aquehonga” which translates to “high, sandy banks.” The Lenape farmed and they lived off the bounty of the land, including the abundant shellfish that was harvested from the salt waters that surrounded the island.
The Lenape residents of Staten Island were, no doubt, aware that a strange looking ship could be seen from their island in 1542. It was explorer Giovanni di Verrazzano aboard a vessel called La Dauphine. He did not land on the little island. It seems that an ill-wind prevented the safety conscious Verrazzano from disembarking his ship.
It would not be until September 1609 that Europeans officially landed on Staten Island. Captain Henry Hudson and his crew arrived aboard the Half Moon and life changed drastically for the Lenape. Cordial relations allowed for the trading of goods, but some aspect of ill-will caused one of the Lenape to shoot crewman John Coleman through the neck with the result that the sailor died. Even so, relations returned to normal and Hudson’s crew eventually sailed away.
It was not until 1630 that the Dutch government of New Amsterdam gave serious thought to what they would call Staten Island. They settled on Staten Island, a Dutch name that was in honor of the Estates General of the Netherlands, the governing body of that country. Three attempts at permanent settlement of the island were disastrous. The first resulted in what we now call the Pig War in 1641. It was followed by the Whiskey War in 1643, and then the Peach War in 1655. Peace was finally established and permanent settlement took place in 1661, when nineteen Dutch, English, and French Huguenot settlers were given permission to settle on the island. There is no doubt that these settlers held enslaved Africans at the time of settlement or that they brought the enslaved to the island shortly after their arrival.
On September 8, 1664, the English took possession of New Amsterdam. This included Staten Island. It was a blood-less capitulation with the result that on November 1, 1683, the island was officially renamed Richmond County. The name was derived from the town and dukedom of Richmond in Yorkshire, England.
During the Revolutionary War the residents of Richmond County endured the presence of thousands of British soldiers who were stationed on the island. At the conclusion of the hostilities the residents of Richmond County were glad to see the armed invaders go. Forced to pledge allegiance to the British, they were at first pleased to sell their goods and services to an army that paid in gold and silver, but when the gold and silver became scarce, the British military simply stole what they needed. When they departed at the conclusion of the war, island residents got back to the business of living their agricultural and village lives.
The arrival of the nineteenth century brought the Industrial Revolution to Richmond County, which was still generally referred to as Staten Island. In 1820, what would eventually become Barrett, Tilston and Sons opened on the north shore of the island on the Kill Van Kull. It grew and other factories soon opened with the result that the area became known as Factoryville. Other factories, breweries, and businesses were soon established on the east and north shores of the island. Meanwhile farming and oystering continued to be important to residents and the local economy.
Transportation boomed in the 1880s when Erastus Wiman consolidated several Staten Island ferry lines to operate out of the new community of Saint George. He, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, also created new rail lines on the island which they connected to an existing line. Eventually, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad would operate the ferry route we know today as the Staten Island ferry run between Saint George and Whitehall in Manhattan.
Realtors discovered the open spaces of Staten Island in the early 1900s, and they soon began offering plots of land and housing developments to off-island residents. Their advertising heralded the clean air, farms, and elbow room that was available. Of course, it was the available acreage that initially brought many institutions and facilities to Staten Island. It began in 1799, with the opening of the Tompkinsville Quarantine Staten where incoming ship passengers who harbored, or appeared to harbor, contagious diseases were kept isolated. Additional facilities including the Richmond County Almshouse, the Seaman’s Retreat, Sailors’ Snug Harbor, the Mariners Family Asylum, the Nursery and Child’s Hospital, the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin orphanage, and others soon arrived. The twentieth century brought Sea View Hospital, an institution for those suffering from tuberculosis and the Willowbrook State School, which eventually became a notorious location where the developmentally disabled were warehoused.
In 1898, Staten Island residents voted to join the City of New York as one of its boroughs. This fact allowed for the city to take over ferry service between Saint George and Whitehall in 1905, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad allowed the operation to deteriorate. Municipal services in the form of police, fire, and sanitation departments were also created after consolidation. Most importantly the County of Richmond was now also known as the Borough of Richmond. But keep in mind that both the County of Richmond and the name Staten Island have been used interchangeably since the English established it as Richmond in 1683. It would officially be known as Richmond until 1975, when a New York City law was passed to call the borough Staten Island. While the City laid claim to the name Staten Island, the State of New York still referred to it as Richmond County. No matter what the official name is most residents still refer to the borough as Staten Island (as does the United States Post Office).
The arrival of the Great Depression in 1929 caused financial upheaval and it led to the closure of several factories that employed thousands of local workers. But with the entrance of the United States into World War II, prosperity soon returned to the borough, with several manufactures changing their production over to war time materials and parts.
There had always been plans for a bridge or tunnel from Staten Island to either Brooklyn or Manhattan. Some of these projects even began, but they never came to a conclusion. With the official announcement that a bridge would be built between Brooklyn and Staten Island at a location referred to as “The Narrows,” things changed radically on the island. Prepared or not, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, with the result that a population and building boom would affect every aspect of Staten Island life. The lack of planning for the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge would also bring problems that still exist today. It also led to the creation of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, a land conservation organization formed in 1979, that was successful in preserving land and stabilizing parks.
Today, the population of Staten Island is approximately 476,200. Many residents work in Manhattan, especially for Wall Street enterprises. Many others are employed by the City of New York, with the uniformed services and the Department of Education well represented.
You’ll find more about each of Staten Island’s four Richmond communities in the Richmond County narrative. Other New York Richmonds include a Richmond Hill neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York; Richmond, Ontario County: Richmondville, Schoharie County; as well as two different Richmond Hill mansions that once overlooked the Hudson River. Stories and images of these places and many more await you in Richmond ~ In The United States. – Martha Turner