A Staten Island Historical Timeline with eBooks, online periodicals, websites, maps and blogs for each era.

Timeline

1.6 Billion years ago

Oldest known rock in the New York City area forms.

430 Million years ago

Staten Island located well offshore. Greenish deposits of Serpentine, formed in volcanic activity on the ocean floor, from this period are still present on the Island. Serpentintite deposits are visible where the Staten Island Expressway cuts through bedrock. (Paleozoic Era).

320 Million years ago

Collisions between the continental plates of Africa and North America form "Cameron's Line" a band of crushed rock 30-50 meters wide and 600 feet beneath the surface of the Island. It runs north to south through the center of theisland.

75 Million years ago

The sand and clay that underlies most of the Southern and Western parts of Staten Island is formed during the Cretaceous period.

1.8 Million years ago

Four major glacial advances from Canada into the New York area leave Staten Island covered in ice (Pleistocene Era).

28,000 years ago

The Wisconsin Ice sheet begins forming and eventually spreads to Staten Island pushing a large pile of rocks ahead of it.

18,000 years ago

The advance of the Wisconsin Ice sheet stops on Staten Island. Todt Hill, 409 feet tall and the highest point on the US east coast south of Cadillac Mountain, Maine, is formed by the glacial advance.

13,000 years ago

Drainage from "Lake Hackensack", a glacial freshwater lake, cuts the valley for the Arthur Kill, separating Staten Island from New Jersey.

Free eBooks and periodicals:

Science-Topography and Geology. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis, Chapter 1 of Staten Island and It's People.

Proceedings of the Natural Science Association of Staten Island. (1883-1905) An enormous collection of environmental and historical articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Proceedings of the Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences. (1906-1920)

Staten Island Names; Ye Olde Names and Nicknames. (1896) William T. Davis.

Websites:

Historical Signs in Staten Island Parks New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Before They Were Parks: Staten Island New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Staten Island's Cemeteries visitstatenisland.com.

NYPL Blogs:

Historical Staten Island Maps in the NYPL Digital Collections

Other Blogs:

Hidden Waters Blog: Staten Island

Timeline

14,000 years ago

Last glacial ice melts in the New York area. Era of the "big game hunters." Hunting points from this period are found in the Rossville area of southwestern Staten Island.

8,000 years ago

Native American burial ground established at Ward's Point near Tottenville.

3,000 years ago

Permanent Native American settlements with agriculture established on Staten Island.

Free eBooks:

The Indians of Greater New York and the Lower Hudson. (1909) Alanson Skinner describes archaeological findings in West New Brighton, Tompkinsville, Rossville. Tottenville and other Island locations.

Indian Life on Staten Island. (1964) Edna Holden describes Indian life on the Island. Reprinted in Chapter 1 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

Aboriginal Inhabitants. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis describe the first Islanders in Chapter 2 of Staten Island and It's People.

Aquehonga-Man-ack-nong. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The Indians of Staten Island (1920) Reginald Bolton Pelham. Chapter in New York City in Indian Possession

Free articles:

A Hard Bargain. The Munsee Indians sold Staten Island under duress—but not before they got the colony of New York to make some surprising concessions. Slate.com

Timeline

1524: April

Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian explorer sailing under the Sponsorship of King Francois I of France, anchors his ship Dauphin in New York Bay. He had hoped to discover a new route to Asia.

1525

Estevan Gomez a Portuguese explorer of African descent sailing under the sponsorship of Spain, sails the East Coast of the United States and Canada in the ship La Anunciada passing or entering New York Bay.

1609: September 3

Henry Hudson, an English explorer sailing under the sponsorship of Holland, enters New York Bay in the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon). He names the island Staaten Eyelandt in honor of the Dutch Parliament - the States General or Staaten.

1639: January 5

From the journal of Captain David Pietersen De Vries: "Anno 1639 The 5th January I sent my people to Staten Island to begin to plant a colony there and build." This is the beginning of the first European settlement on Staten Island. By 1641 the colony is abandoned due to conflicts with the Native Americans (The Pig War).

1642

A second colony is established under the sponsorship of Cornelius Melyn. It is also abandoned due to Native American opposition in 1643 (The Whiskey War).

1650

Baron van der Capellan toe Ryssel makes a third attempt at colonization but only manages to sustain his colony until 1655, again due to Native American opposition (The Peach War).

1661: August 20

Nineteen Dutch and French Huguenot colonists form the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island at Oude Dorp, near present day South Beach.

1664: August 18

English forces capture the Dutch Blockhouse (at the present site of Fort Wadsworth) defending Staten Island. By August 29 the Dutch surrender all of New Amsterdam.

1663

Western organized religion debuts on Staten Island as the Reverend Samuel Drisius starts bi-monthly visits to the Oude Dorp colonists.

1670: April 13

Native Americans give up Staten Island in an agreement with the English Colonial Governor Francis Lovelace. Native American concepts of allowing the use of land without granting ownership (which they felt no individual was entitled to own) cloud the validity of such land agreements.

1676: March 25

Captain Christopher Billopp granted ownership of the southern portion of Staten Island where he builds the house that will become known as the Conference House after the Revolutionary War.

1683: November 1

King Charles II of England renames Staten Island Richmond County after James the Duke of Richmond.

1695 (approximately)

Voorlezer's House, thought to be the oldest existing school building in the United States, is built by the Dutch Reformed Church. It is now part of Historic Richmond Town.

1729

Richmond Town is established as the county seat of Richmond County

1774: June 21

Daniel D. Tompkins, Island resident who developed Tompkinsville, is born in what is now Scarsdale, N.Y. New York Governor from 1807 to 1817 and Vice President of the United States under President James Monroe. He was a leader in the fight to abolish slavery in New York State.

Free eBooks:

Discovery, Exploration and Early Attempts to Settle. (1964) Edna Holden, reprinted in Chapter 2 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

The Adventurers. (1950) Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 3 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

The Sedulous Years. (1950) Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 4 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898. Continues the story 1683-1700s,

The First White Settlers. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 3 of Staten Island and It's People.

Colonial Period 1664-1775 (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 4 of Staten Island and It's People.

Settlement of Staten Island. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

Slavery on Staten Island. (2012) Richard Dickenson's revision of Evelyn Morris King's The Black Man on Staten Island (1971) in Holden's Staten Island.

In the Old Slavery Days. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The War of Eighteen Hundred and Twelve. (1900) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The Story of the Huguenots. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1..

The Dutch at Oude Dorp (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The French and Indian War (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The Historic Village of Richmond Town and Vicinity (1946) Staten Island Historical Society

Online Video:

What Was the Pig War? [1640] By the New-York Historical Society

Free articles:

David Pietersz De Vries and the First Settlement on Staten Island The Staten Island Historian, October 1939.

It took time to become permanent settlement The Staten Island Advance, August 21, 2011.

Dutch influence a major force in Staten Island's heritage The Staten Island Advance, October 29, 2014.

Staten Island Memories: The boat race that claimed Staten Island. The Staten Island Advance, June 16. 2013.

NYPL Blogs:

How to Research Dutch Ancestors

Timeline

1776: July 2,3

9,000 Redcoats commanded by British General William Howe land on Staten Island and set up headquarters in New Dorp. During the Revolutionary War the British presence on mainly loyalist Staten Island will climb as high as 30,000 British troops.

1776: Sept. 11

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge hold peace talks with British commander William Howe. Howe offers clemency in return for surrender at the home of loyalist Lt. Col. Christopher Billopp in Tottenville now called the "Conference House". The conference fails and the American Revolution continues.

1780: January 15

2,500 American troops march across the frozen Kill Van Kull from Elizabeth, NJ to Port Richmond and attack British positions in West Brighton and New Brighton. Loyalist spies report the movements of the Americans allowing theBritish to call for reinforcements who push the American forces back across the ice to New Jersey.

1783: December 5

The last British troop ship departs the newly formed United States from Staten Island. Staten Island crowds gather to jeer the departing warships as they pass through the Narrows. The last shot of the Revolutionary War is fired from a departing British vessel at the Staten Islanders. By the end of the war Staten Island was almost completely deforested to supply fuel for British army campfires.

Free eBooks:

The Revolutionary Period 1776-1883. (1964) Edna Holden. Reprinted in Chapter 4 of Holden's Staten Island.

The Revolution. (1950) Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 4 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

Revolutionary Times -1775-1783. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 5 of Staten Island and It's People.

That Ever Loyal Island. (2007 - Chapter Excerpts Only) Phil Papas. NYU Project Muse.

The Conference or Billopp house, Staten Island, New York. (1926) William T. Davis.

Approaching the Revolution. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The Billopps and their Home. (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

Conference House, Tottenville, Staten Island (1947) William T. Davis (Revised 1947 by Chaffee Saunders)

The Crisis on Staten Island (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

The American Loyalists (1898) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. 1.

Staten Island Under British Rule 1776-1783 (1949) Henry G. Steinmeyer

NYPL Collection:

That Ever Loyal Island. (2007) Phil Papas.

Free Articles:

Sullivan's Raid on Staten Island: August 22, 1777 The Staten Island Historian, December 1972.

Staten Island a Loyalist stronghold during Revolutionary War The Staten Island Advance, July 2, 2014.

Staten Island Memories: Tales of Staten Island and the Revolution The Staten Island Advance, October 28, 2012.

Matthias Williamson Jr. describes his Service During Sullivan's Staten Island Raid, 1777 Pension files of Revolutionary War veterans.

Battle of Staten Island. Wikipedia. (Sullivan's raid.)

The Conference House

Revolutionary War in Richmond County

Maps:

An accurate map of Staten Island : with that part of New York, Long Island and the Jerseys which is the rendesvous of the two grand armies and the supposed present seat of action, October 3, 1776.

Chart and plan of the harbour of New York & the couny. adjacent, from Sandy Hook to Kingsbridge : comprehending the whole of New York and Staten Islands, and part of Long Island & the Jersey shore, and shewing the defences of New York both by land and sea. November 30, 1781.

Documents:

Letter from British General Guy Carleton, aboard the ship Ceres off Staten Island, to NY Governor Clinton, concerning the evacuation of British troops from Long Island and Staten Island. December 1, 1783.

Timeline

1788

Staten Island is divided into four official townships: Northfield, Southfield, Westfield and Castleton.

1794: May 2

"Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt is born on Long Island and moved to Stapleton, Staten Island as a child. He began sail-powered ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan which he expanded into a railroad and shipping empire. At one point he was the richest man in America. Vanderbilt went to school in Port Richmond until the age of 11. The Vanderbilts later moved to a Stapleton house that stood at the present site of the Paramount Theater on Bay Street, Stapleton

1799

Creation of a Quarantine station for immigrants with Yellow Fever and Small Pox is authorized to move from Bedloe (now Liberty) Island to Tompkinsville. Elizabeth Bayley Seton, the first American Roman Catholic Saint, assists her father, the New York City Health Officer, Dr. Richard Bayley.

1812

Fort Richmond (now Fort Wadsworth) protects New York City from invasion by the British during the War of 1812. Several British ships are sighted off Sandy Hook, New Jersey in 1813 but do not risk passing under the guns of theStaten Island fort. Daniel D. Tompkins leads the effort to bolster the fort's defenses creating Fort Tompkins which sits at the top of the hill. By 1815, when the war's end was announced in New York, 900 cannons lined the shores around Fort Richmond. The fort is currently part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

1816: March 31

Modern day Victory Boulevard begins existence when the Richmond Turnpike Company is incorporated. Their coaches connected ferries from Manhattan at Tompkinsville to New Jersey bound ferries in Travis. It is owed by Daniel D. Tompkins and promoted as the fastest route from New York to Philadelphia.

1817: November 29

The first steam ferry begins service between Manhattan and Tompkinsville. Because of the high price of the commute (12 ½ cents each way) the ferry attracts primarily wealthy New Yorkers settle on the North Shore of Staten Island.

1819

Factoryville established in present day West New Brighton.

1827

After a long struggle, lead by Staten Islander Daniel D. Tompkins, slavery is abolished in New York State.

1827: October 17

The weekly newspaper the Richmond Republican, the first newspaper to cover Staten Island is produced (but printed in Manhattan).

1828

The first Prince's Bay Lighthouse is constructed

1830s (approx.)

Charles Goodyear opens a factory near his West New Brighton home to produce rubber toys, maps and surgical bandages. Goodyear revolutionized the rubber industry when he accidentally dropped a mixture of sulfur and rubber ona hot stove creating the process known as "vulcanization" (patented 1844) that strengthened rubber so that it could be used in industry.

1833

Sailor's Snug Harbor opens as the nation's first home and hospital for retired seamen. Its benefactor, Captain Robert Randall, created the institution in his will as a way to repay the sailors who had created his family's fortune.

1835

New Brighton, one of America's earliest suburban communities, was created. It featured a large hotel and Greek Revival style homes facing the Kill Van Kull. The development included part of today's St. George.

1836: September 12

Aaron Burr, former Vice President of the United States, dies in Port Richmond.

1839

Robbin's Reef Lighthouse, in Upper New York Bay near the St. George Ferry terminal, in commission. In 1886 Kate Walker became the keeper upon her husband's dying words: " Mind the light, Kate". She was one of a very small number of female lighthouse keepers in the nation. She rescued over 50 people during a career that lasted until 1919.

1839

St. Peter's, The Island's first Catholic parish is established in New Brighton.

1843-1844

Author Henry David Thoreau lives on Staten Island while tutoring the children of Ralph Waldo Emerson's brother, William Emerson.

1850

Italian born inventor Antonio Meucci comes to Staten Island from Cuba to develop and patent his telephone. His experiments with medical shock treatments had revealed the possibility of transmitting the human voice over electrical wires. Because Meucci lacked the funds to patent his invention the credit for the invention of the telephone eventually went to Alexander Graham Bell.

Ca. 1850

African Americans from New York City and the surrounding region began to settle permanently at Sandy Ground in the Woodrow/Rossville Area. They established the A.M.E Zion Church there. In the 1860s and 1870s free black oystermen from Snow Hill, a Maryland town on the Chesapeake Bay, greatly expand the community.

1851

Guiseppe Garibaldi military leader of Italian unification comes to Staten Island for two years supporting himself as a candle maker while living with Antonio Meucci in Rosebank.

1854

Kreischerville is founded in Southwest Staten Island. It was the home of clay mining operations (the remnants of which are still visible at Clay Pit Ponds State Park) and brick manufacture.

1856: January 21

Staten Island Historical Society is founded.

Free eBooks:

The Federal Period 1783-1861. (1964) Edna Holden. Reprinted in Chapter 5 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

Hamlets into Villages. (1950) Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 5 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

Old Time Rural Staten Island 1783 -1843. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 6 of Staten Island and It's People

Growth of Villages 1843-66. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 7 of Staten Island and It's People

Walks and Meditations in New York. (1905) Henry David Thoreau. Edited by Franklin Sanborn in The First and Last Journeys of Thoreau. Thoreau's stay in 1843.

Cultural landscape report for the Battery Weed Headland: Fort Wadsworth, Gateway National Recreation Area, Staten Island, New York. By by Jean B. Gleisner & John Auwaerter ; George W. Curry, project director. Published in 2008.

The Case of Polly Bodine The famous 1844 Graniteville murder case described in Extraordinary Cases by Henry Lauren Clinton. Published in 1896.

The Merry Yuletide Murder: Thrice Tried, Once Convicted, Polly Bodine Escapes the Gallows in Sins of New York as "Exposed" by the Police Gazette by Edward Van Ever. Published in 1930.

The Monument in Staten Island: Meucci, Garibaldi and the Telephone (1957) Frances Winwar

Reports of the Committee and Engineer, to the President and Directors of the Staten Island Railway Company. (1852)

An Emigrants Narrative or A Voice From the Steerage...With a Statement of the Cruelties Practiced Upon the Emigrants in the Staten Island Hospital (1850) William Smith

Free Articles:

In 1812, New York was well Fort-ified. The Staten Island Advance, May 20, 2012

Staten Island in the Harbor Metropolis: The Making of a Region and the Disappearance of an Island, 1790 - 1858. (2014) Adam Zalma. (Doctoral Dissertation)

A Lecture on the History of Staten Island (1842) Raymond M. Tysen ("The first attempt at a History of Staten Island.")

Online Video:

Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives. (2016) Book Talk by author Don Papson featuring the Staten Island abolitionist and National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper editor Sydney Howard Gay. (CSPAN)

Sandy Ground. Civil rights history was made right here in NYC on Staten Island in 1828 — and its impact is still being felt today. NYC Mayor's Office.

NYPL Collections:

Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives. By Don Papson (2015)

Staten Island Newspapers:

The Richmond County Free Press from the collections of Historic Richmond Town, 1833.

The Richmond County Mirror from the collections of The New York Public Library 1837-1839.

The Sepoy from the collections of The Staten Island Museum, 1859.

Staten Island Maps:

Map of Staten Island or Richmond County. 16 views of buildings on border. Also view of Elliottville the property of Dr. S. M. Elliott. (1853) James Butler, Surveyor.

NYPL Blogs:

Found Staten Island Stories: Baby Cornelius at the No. 1 Chinese Kitchen

Other Blogs:

Slave Birth Records in the Town of Castleton, 1799 -1824

Slave Manumissions and Certificates of Freedom, 1800-1825

Beside the Evening Sea: Staten Island as Haven for Writers and Reformers

AARON BURR, STATEN ISLAND, AND THE TALE OF HIS DEATH MASK

Timeline

1858: September 1

Fearing the spread of contagious disease a mob of Staten Islanders burn the Quarantine Hospital in Tompkinsville. The hospital served immigrants to the US who were thought to be too ill to enter the country.

Free eBooks:

Facts and documents bearing upon the legal and moral questions : connected with the recent destruction of the quarantine buildings on Staten Island. (1858) Executive Committee of Staten Island.

Burning of the Quarantine. (1950) Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 6 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

The Quarantine Hospitals. (1900) Ira K. Morris. Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island.

Growth of Villages 1843-66. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 7 of Staten Island and It's People

Free Articles:

How arsonists burned down Staten Island's hated Quarantine hospital... NY Daily News, Oct. 13, 2013

The quarantine war: the burning of the New York Marine Hospital in 1858. Public Health Reports Jan.- Feb. 2004

The destruction of the quarantine station on Staten Island in 1858. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 1926.

Staten Island Newspaper:

The Sepoy from the collections of The Staten Island Museum, 1859. (Founded in reaction to the events at the Quarantine but was not in publication on the date of the burning.)

The New York Times provides online access to articles covering this story from 1858.

Other Blogs:

NYC Event: 19th Century Immigrants Being Reinterred

Timeline

1860: April 23

The first passenger train on the Staten Island Railroad begins operating between Eltingville and Clifton (Vanderbilt's Landing)

1860: June

Staten Island gets its first magnetic telegraph line.

1861-1865

During the Civil War Staten Island helps the Union War effort in several ways. Many Union regiments assemble on Staten Island to train before heading to battle including the Clinton Rifles, 178th and 145th Regiments. Staten Islandferryboats were mounted with cannons and served in the Union Navy. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, longtime Staten Island resident, led an African American Regiment into battle.

1863

St. George chosen as the site for a Lighthouse Depot to develop more effective lighthouses and distribute lamps and lenses throughout the country. In 1998 the site was selected as the home of the National Lighthouse Museum.

1863: July 14

Civil War draft riots spread to Staten Island. Homes of African Americans in Stapleton are burned as blacks are unfairly blamed for causing the war. At least 5 are killed on Staten Island and many others injured.

Free eBooks:

Civil War Days. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 8 of Staten Island and It's People

Civil War Years 1861 - 1865. (1950)

Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 7 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

Civil War Period 1861-1865. (1964) Edna Holden. Reprinted in Chapter 6 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

The Riots of '63 On Staten Island. (1925) Charles G. Hine and William T. Davis. Legends, stories, and folklore of old Staten Island. Part I. The North Shore.

Civil War Period. Draft Quotas. (2012) (page 480) Richard Dickenson's revision of Evelyn Morris King's The Black Man on Staten Island (1971) in Holden's Staten Island.

History of the Second battalion Duryee: Zouaves, One hundred and sixty-fifth regt. New York volunteer infantry, mustered in the United States service at Camp Washington, Staten Island, N.Y. (1906).

"Negros Sheltered From Mob" (1914) Charles G. Hine. History and legend of Howard avenue and the Serpentine road, Grymes Hill, Staten Island.

Free Articles:

Staten Island's role in the Civil War Staten Island Advance. September 25, 2011.

Staten Island Memories: Draft riots turned ugly. Staten Island Advance. October 27, 2013

The American Civil War and Historic Richmond Town. Staten Island Historian p. 9 Fall 2013

Regiments Recruited (In Part) From Staten Island. List from Richmond NYGenWeb.

1890 Veterans' and Widows' Schedule. List from Richmond NYGenWeb. Staten Island Civil War Veterans list with towns/neighborhoods.

"Adventures of a Federal Recruit" A fictional account of an Englishmen's conscription into a Union Army camp on Staten Island. The tale appeared in the magazine "All the Year Round," edited by Charles Dickens, on January 23, 1864. The likely author seems to be Charles MacKay, an English correspondent living on Staten Island during the Civil War. Read more about his stay on Staten Island here.

Online Video:

Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives. (2016) Book Talk by author Don Papson featuring the Staten Island abolitionist and National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper editor Sydney Howard Gay. Includes a brief mention of the Civil War draft riots on Staten Island. (CSPAN)

NYPL Collections:

Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives. By Don Papson (2015)

Staten Island Newspaper:

Richmond County Gazette from the collections of The Staten Island Museum,1859-1889 .

Document:

Civil War Recruiting Broadside. Town of Castleton, 1862.

Recruiting poster for "The Clinton Rifles" at St. George.

NYPL Blogs:

At Home In Staten Island: A Tale of Two Literary Englishmen and Their Children

Timeline

1867

Anna Harriet Leonowens opens a West New Brighton School on Richmond Terrace. She is best known for tutoring the 67 children of the King of Siam and the musical based on her experience - "The King and I".

1870

Swinburne Island, a man-made island off of South Beach, is constructed as a Quarantine hospital for immigrants arriving in America with contagious diseases. It replaces the quarantine ships which had housed the sick immigrants since the burning of the Tompkinsville Quarantine Station in 1858. Originally named Dix Island, after a former New York Governor, the name was soon changed to Swinburne after the Civil War Hero and surgeon who headed thedevelopment of the Island: John S. Swinburne.

1870

First defense of the America's Cup in the waters off Staten Island. The New York Yacht Club is based in a clubhouse located next to the Alice Austen House in Rosebank. The sailing yachts Magic and the original champion America are among the boats to defeat the British challenger Cambria.

1871: July 30

The worst accident in the history of the Staten Island ferry occurs. A boiler explosion aboard the ferryboat Westfield II kills over 125 passengers and injures over 200 as it departs South Ferry.

1873

Hoffman Island, a second man-made Quarantine Island, is completed off the shore of South Beach. Conditions on the both quarantine islands were often overcrowded and unsanitary. In 1901 7,801 people were detained on Hoffman Island. Use of the hospitals declined until they were finally closed in the 1920s. From 1931 to 1937 the island was used as a bird quarantine station for imported parrots. The island is named for John T. Hoffman, a former New York City Mayor and New York State Governor.

1874: March 20

Mary Ewing Outerbridge brings tennis to the United States for the first time. After seeing the game of lawn tennis played on a vacation to Bermuda Ms. Outerbridge decides to bring back the equipment and sets up the first court in St. George.

1880

Mary Ewing Outerbridge introduces tennis to the United States. After seeing the game played in Bermuda she sets up the first US tennis court on Staten Island. Tennis begins to spread widely and the first National Lawn Tennis Tournament is held at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club.

1881: September

The forerunner of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences is founded by a group of local naturalists. The group calls themselves the Natural Science Association.

1882

The American Linoleum Manufacturing Company first introduces Electricity to Staten Island in Travis when they install electric lighting. Telephone service is also introduced to the Island this same year.

1883: November 29

Father John Christopher Drumgoole, a Catholic Priest, founds founds St. Vincent's Home for Homeless Newsboys at Mount Loretto on Staten Island's South shore. The facility provides care for thousands of homeless children.

1884

Tompkinsville's Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, becomes Staten Island's first Jewish congregation.

1886: March 8

The first ferry terminal at St. George opens combining a rail connection in the same building allowing for a fast transfer to points on the south shore.

1886: March 17

Noted Island photographer, Alice Austen, is born. The pioneering woman photographer captured thousands of images of Staten Island and New York City life. Her Rosebank home, "Clear Comfort", overlooking the Narrows is preserved as the Alice Austen Museum.

1886: March 27

Richmond County Advance begins publication.

1886: April

The Metropolitan Baseball Club of the American Association begins play at their St. George stadium. Before coming to Staten Island the team played in what many consider to be the first world series when they lost to the National League's Providence Grays in 1884.

1889: June 13

The first bridge from Staten Island to New Jersey is opened. The railroad bridge connects Howland Hook to Elizabeth New Jersey. It was later torn down to make room for the Goethals Bridge.

1898: January 21

Staten Island joins New York City. 73% of Staten Islanders approve the referendum that combines the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island into a single city. Up to this point Richmond County had been administered as five townships.

1895

Staten Island Chamber of Commerce founded.

Free eBooks:

Period of Expansion 1865 - 1898. (1964) Edna Holden. Reprinted in Chapter 7 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

Suburban Staten Island 1866-1898. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 9 of Staten Island and It's People

Rides and Rambles on Staten Island. (1889) Reau Campbell.

Days Afield on Staten Island. (1892) William T. Davis. 1937 edition.

The Problems of Expansion. (1950)

Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 8 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

Political Synthesis. (1950)

Henry Steinmeyer. Chapter 9 of his book Staten Island 1524-1898.

A Village Childhood (1941) Henry Steinmeyer.

Report ... Upon the Mines of Staten Island of the Richmond Iron Company (1868) Elton C. Buck

Free Articles:

How the five boroughs became one city Staten Island Advance, March 13, 2011.

Staten Island Maps:

Map of Staten Island, Richmond County, New York City, State of New York. (1866) G. W. & C. B. Colton.

Map of Staten Island (Richmond Co.) N.Y. , also cities of Bayonne & Perth Amboy and village of woodbridge, N.J., showing topography, farms, shore soundings, etc. (1872)

NYPL Blogs:

Found Staten Island Stories 5: Defending the America's Cup 1870-1920 (Part 1)

Found Staten Island Stories 5: Defending America's Cup 1870-1920 (Part 2)

Found Staten Island Stories 3: Buffalo Bill's Wild West, Mariners' Harbor, 1886 and 1888

The Alice Austen House: Gem of Staten Island's North Shore

Ride the Staten Island Railway Through the Public Domain

Islands of New York City: Hoffman and Swinburne Islands

At Home In Staten Island: A Tale of Two Literary Englishmen and Their Children

Gilded Love: Stokes and Sargent

Other Blogs:

Beside the Evening Sea: Staten Island as Haven for Writers and Reformers

STATEN ISLAND ALREADY HAD A GIGANTIC FERRIS WHEEL — IN 1893!

Spotlighting The Past With ‘The Music Of Olde Staten Island' This Way on Bay.

Staten Island Newspapers:

Richmond County Advance from the collections of Historic Richmond Town & NYPL, 1886 -1922.

The News Letter from the collections of Historic Richmond Town, 1896-1897.

Richmond County Democrat from the collections of Historic Richmond Town, 1890 -1892.

Staten Island Independent from the collections of Historic Richmond Town, 1894 -1895.

Staten Island Leader from the collections of The New York State Library, 1866-1928 (80 issues, with large gaps).

Staten Island Magazine from the collections of the New York Botanical Garden, 1888.

Richmond County Sentinel from the collections of The Staten Island Museum, 1879-1882 & 1888-1889.

Richmond County & Staten Island Gazettes from the collections of The Staten Island Museum,1859-1889 &1901.

Staten Island Leader from the collections of The New York State Library, 1866-1928 (80 issues, with large gaps).

Timeline

1904: February 9

Curtis High School opens in St. George. Named for the writer, editor, orator George William Curtis.

1905: October 25

The City of New York takes control of the Staten Island Ferry due to dangerous conditions created by private ferry operators.

1906: May 2

Borough Hall in St. George is dedicated.

1907: October

Procter & Gamble Corporation opens a factory in Mariners Harbor where they produce Ivory Soap and other products for more than 80 years.

1912

Staten Island Lighthouse on Lighthouse Hill begins operation, guiding ships from the Atlantic Ocean into Lower New York Bay.

1912: June 21

Abel Kiviat, a Curtis High School Track Star, wins the Olympic silver medal for the 1,500-meter run in Stockholm, Sweden. He also captures gold with the U.S. 3,000-meter relay team. He is the cabinmate of track great Jim Thorpe onthe ship to Sweden.

1913: November 12

Sea View Hospital opens to treat Tuberculosis patients, becoming a national leader in the field.

1916

The New York Bay Oyster industry, long vital to Staten Island's economy, is shut down by the New York City Health Department. Fears of Typhoid caused by the polluted water force the closure. Staten Island Oysters had been considered great delicacies around the United States and Europe. Recent efforts have been made to reintroduce oysters into New York Bay.

1914-1918

World War I. More than 5,000 Staten Islanders join the armed services, more men per capita than any county in the United States. 160 are killed in action. 9,000 workers are employed building steel cargo ships for the war effort at theStandard Shipbuilding Company on Shooter's Island.

1918

Wagner College moves to Staten Island from Rochester, NY. The campus is established on the Cunard Estate, former home of the famed British shipping line's American operations manager. The college has only 16 students at thetime.

1919

The former New Dorp farm of William H. Vanderbilt is converted into a coastal air defense station. Named Miller Field air in 1920 for Captain James E. Miller an American airman killed in France during World War I.

1922

The poet Langston Hughes lives and works for a season on the Criaris farm, then at 2289 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island growing vegetables. After dropping out of Columbia University he is thought to have written several poems on the New Springville farm and published them in the NAACP magazine The Crisis, including After Many Springs. See a video about his time on Staten Island.

1923

Ground is broken in St. George and Brooklyn for a subway line connecting the two boroughs. It is never completed.

1928: June 20

The Outerbridge Crossing and the Goethals Bridge, both connecting Staten Island to New Jersey, open on the same day.

1929

The Staten Island Stapeltons, a long time Island semi-professional team, joins the National Football League.

1931: November 15

The Bayonne Bridge opens connecting Elm Park, Staten Island and Bayonne New Jersey. It is the longest Steel Arch Bridge in the world when it is completed, just slightly longer than the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia.

1936: June 10

The Staten Island Zoo, in Barrett Park, opens.

1938

The US Maritime Service opens a training school for merchant marines on Hoffman Island. By 1943 the school enrolled 1200 students. By 1947 the school outgrew the island and moved to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

1941-1945

Staten Island fights World War II. A submarine net stretching from Miller Field across the Narrows prevents attacks by German submarines in New York Harbor. Troops train at Miller Field before being sent to fight in Europe and Africa. 250 Italian Army prisoners of war are housed on Staten Island. Island Anti-aircraft batteries defend New York City against potential air attacks.

1946: June 25

St. George Ferry Terminal is destroyed by fire. Three are dead, 280 injured.

1947

Halloran General hospital is converted from military use to the Willowbrook State Hospital.

1947

The Jacques Marchais Tibetan Museum, modeled after a Tibetan mountain temple, is constructed on Lighthouse Hill. The museum has a large collection of Tibetan art and was visited by the Dalai Lama in 1991.

1948: April 16

Fresh Kills Landfill opens. Planned only as a "temporary" solution to New York's trash disposal problem the landfill will grow to become the world's largest. The landfill operated for more than 50 years.

1950

The Korean War begins. Fears of an air attack on New York City bring Staten Island anti-aircraft batteries back to full strength. The Korean War Veterans Memorial Parkway, formerly the Richmond Parkway, now honors StatenIslanders who served in the Korean conflict.

1951: October 3

Bobby Thomson, "the Staten Island Scot", hits "the shot heard 'round the world" a homerun giving the National League pennant to the New York Giants.

1953

Passenger runs along the North Shore Railroad, connecting St. George and Mariner's Harbor, are abandoned.

1954

"Nike" guided surface-to-air missiles are based at Fort Wadsworth continuing an active military role for the fort which began when the Dutch constructed a block house on the spot in the 1600s.

1956: March

Staten Island Community College (CUNY) opens in St. George.

1958

Richmondtown Restoration, now called Historic Richmond Town, opens. In Staten Island's answer to Colonial Williamsburg, costumed guides reenact historical Staten Island trades and home life in original historic buildings.

1960 December 16

128 people are killed in a mid-air collision between a TWA plane and a United Airlines plane over Staten Island's Miller Field. The TWA plane rains wreckage down on Miller Field while the United plane flies as far as Park Slope Brooklyn before crashing. It is the worst air disaster in US history to that point.

1964: August 29

Mid-Island Little League defeats Monterrey Mexico 4-0 to win Little League World Series. Islander Dan Yaccarino pitched a no-hitter.

1964: November 21

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn opens. Othmar Amman, designer of the Bayonne Bridge, designed the bridge. Then the largest suspension bridge in the world, the design had to incorporate thecurvature of the earth and seasonal expansions and contractions which drop the roadway twelve feet lower in the summer than the winter. The bridge began a massive building and population boom on the Island that continues into the present day.

1964: December 18

NYC approval is given to establish a "Greenbelt" park reaching from Sea View to New Dorp.

1965

At the first meeting of the newly created New York City Landmarks Commission 6 Sailor's Snug Harbor buildings are designated as landmarks, saving them from demolition.

1971

Geraldo Rivera brings the abuse of disabled students at the Willowbrook State School to national attention. The publicity leads to the closing of the school.

1971

St. John's University opens an Island campus after acquiring the all women's College of Notre Dame.

1973: August 9

The Staten Island Mall opens. Stores in traditional shopping areas such as Port Richmond relocate or close due as the large chain stores gather together in one location.

1974

Thanks in part to the Clean Water Act of 1972, wading birds are first spotted returning to the cleaner waters around Staten Island. By 1994 there were approximately 1300 pairs of wading birds on Shooters Island (43 acres), Prall's Island (80 acres), and the Isle of Meadows (101 acres). New species include ibis, heron, and egret.

1974

The Staten Island Children's Museum opens in a storefront. In 1986 the museum moves to its current location in Snug Harbor Cultural Center.

1975

The Borough of Richmond is officially renamed the Borough of Staten Island.

1976: June

The last of the retired sailors relocate from Sailor's Snug Harbor to Sea Level, North Carolina.

1976: July 1

New York City takes possession of the Sailor's Snug Harbor. It begins its new life as the Snug Harbor Cultural Center with museums, artists' studios, performance halls and botanical gardens.

1976: July 4

New York Cit celebrates the US Bicentennial with a parade of tall ships in the Narrows and harbor.

1984

Prall's Island in the Arthur Kill is acquired by the New York City Parks system as an 80-acre bird sanctuary.

1985: December 23

The Muslim Majlis Mosque, Staten Island's first Islamic house of worship, is founded in Concord.

1986

The "Teleport" is opened by the Port Authority of NY & NJ providing satellite and fiberoptic telecommunications to businesses.

1990

Several oil spills in New York Harbor turn back many of the gains made by nature in reclaiming the waterways around Staten Island. In January an Exxon pipeline spilled 567,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Arthur Kill damaging an estimated 197 acres of salt marsh and killing about 700 birds. Fortunately, the local herons, ibis and egrets had migrated south at the time.

1990

The Stapleton Homeport opens providing major facilities for the docking of US Navy war ships. It closed in 1994 due to budget cuts.

1993

The College of Staten Island starts moving to its new campus on the grounds of the former Willowbrook State School.

1993: November

65% of Staten Island voters approve a draft charter for an independent City of Staten Island but the charter is not adopted by the state government.

1996: May 23

The New York State Senate approves the closing of the Fresh Kills Landfill.

Free eBooks:

The Cosmopolitan Period: Since 1898. (1964) Edna Holden. Reprinted in Chapter 8 of Holden's Staten Island (2012.)

Civic History of Borough of Richmond 1898 - 1928. (1929) Charles Leng and William T. Davis. Chapter 10 of Staten Island and It's People

Staten Island Newspapers:

Richmond County Advance, Daily Advance and Staten Island Advance from the collections of Historic Richmond Town & NYPL, 1886 -1922.

For the newest Staten Island Advance issues (from 1991 to the present) search: silive.com. The official site of the Advance is keyword searchable and returns selected individual articles in the results.

The Staten Island World from the collections of The Staten Island Museum,1902-1920.

Staten Island Transcript from the collections of Historic Richmond Town, 1902 (only 1 page).

Staten Island Leader from the collections of The New York State Library, 1866-1928 (80 issues, with large gaps).

Staten Island Gazette from the collections of The Staten Island Museum,1901.

NYPL

Blogs:

Found Staten Island Stories 5: Defending the America's Cup 1870-1920 (Part 1)

Found Staten Island Stories 5: Defending America's Cup 1870-1920 (Part 2)

Found Staten Island Stories 2: A Thrilling Balloon Trip, Stapleton, 1906

Found Staten Island Stories 4: A Light to Guide (Part 1) (Bergen Point Lighthouse)

Found Staten Island Stories 4: A Light to Guide (Part 2)

Staten Island Aerial Photos from 1924

Port Richmond Branch Library, The First 50 Years: 1905-1955

One Man’s Library Education and the "Double V"

Other Blogs:

WAS ‘BIRTH OF A NATION’ REALLY FILMED IN STATEN ISLAND?

Online Video:

I Dream of Rivers - A Langston Hughes Story Omar Brown. (The story of Langston Hughes on Staten Island in 1922.)

Staten Island and Secession University of Georgia.