Hylan BLVD, Snake Hill, GreatKills, Arthur Kill rd in the 1980's (videos)

 

 1) Hylan Blvd. Staten Island August 1983 Great Kills To Tottenville

2) Staten Island Richmond Town Snake Hill Latourette 1983

3)Arthur Kill Rd (Pt.1)Staten Island August 1983 Kreischer/Outer Bridge

4)Arthur Kill Rd. Pt. 2 August 1983 Black Garter Century Inn 

 

The video quality is poor but still you can see things you recognize and I still lovee the videos because it really captures what me and my friends used to do on a hot summer day on the island, just cruising around. Hope you enjoy! 

Sea View: Embolishment of The White Plague

Sea View Hospital was not always a hospital, it started out as a poor house in 1829 called The Farm Colony. In its day it was extravagant and prestigious, very well known. When the hospital opened as Sea View Tuberculosis Hospital on October 28, 1912 it was considered to be the finest in the country for the treatment of TB, also known as 'the white plague'. In all there was 8 patient buildings that formed a semi circle, a children's hospital, and a rehab center that had 6 units. In all the total amount of beds the hospital had was 1.402, but with added beds it could accommodate 1,682 beds. The largest amount it ever held was 2,000 in a census that was taken in 1940-41. The final cost of the hospital was four million dollars, which was twice the amount that was originally estimated.

 

The buildings where decorated with beautiful, and expensive Terracotta murals. I have in fact seen them on the old broken down buildings and wondered why no one has taken them down to preserve. A lot of fancy and expensive things in Staten Island where decorated with Terracotta because of the factory on the island at the time. But the story is different for these because they were made by a company in Holland called Joost Thooft & Labouchere. They made the murals using a technique called Sectile. The difference was that each piece of the terracotta was shaped to the lines of the design, instead of the design being divided over a number of tiles. This company was the first and only at the time to do this between the years of 1900 - 1910. This makes these murals very rare and actually, the best sectile work in America. The architect that designed the hospital, Raymond F. Almirall sketched out these murals to add something a little light to the atmosphere. They where extracted from the decaying buildings sometime after 2005 and now hang in the main building.

There is so much to be said about this place that we now see as ruins and haunted by its mental patients, but was it even a mental ward? 

 I can find absolutely no evidence to support the claim that Seaview was ever a mental hospital. I think what gets people confused, is that the Willowbrook State School was very nearby. The school wasn't built for years after Sea View was, but that school was knocked down and Seaview still remains. We pass by it all the time on Brielle Ave. It does look scary so I guess we just assume that it has a violent history, but in fact Sea View was a historical place where many discoveries where made. By the 1960's the medical staff at Sea view was discovering new medicine, they invented something called isoniazids, this was a treatment for TB. With the new medicine the demand for TB beds went down drastically and therefore Sea View in a way put itself out of business. This medicine, along with fresh air cured TB. The hospital was advance, they even had special houses that had ceilings that opened up to let in the fresh air. In whole the campus had 37 buildings. According to Wikipedia this is the list of houses:  Administration Building (1913), Surgical Pavilion (1913), Nurses Residence (1913, addition 1932), Staff House (1913), Power House / Laundry and Ambulance Complex (1912, addition 1935), Kitchen and Dining Hall Group (1912), and Women's Pavilions (1909-1911). Sanatorium additions include the Auditorium or "New Dining Hall" (1917, now known as Colony Hall), Group Building (1917), and Men's and Women's Open Air Pavilions (1917). Later buildings include the Catholic Chapel and Rectory (1928), City Mission Chapel or Chapel of St. Luke the Physician (1934), Pathology Lab (1927-1928), Children's Hospital (1935-1937), Sputum House (1911 / 1932), and Richmond County Isolation Hospital (1928)

 

Because the hospital was going to go out of business with the cure of TB, the Farm Colony was turned into a 1,400 bed hospital for older patients with aging problems such as Alzheimers. Since then Sea View has stuck with its purpose of being a home and hospital as well as a rehab center for older patients as well as younger ones with brain injuries or other server injuries. If you ever find yourself visiting Sea View, make sure you stop by the museum that is housed right on the site, it takes you on a visual walk though on the history of the place. 

This is only the 1st post I am doing on Sea View, this post is to simply cover the past of the hospital, such as what it really was and what good it actually did for history and TB. The next post I do will be more about the Sea View we see today, the abandoned and presumed haunted Sea view. As well as my own stories, since after all I spent two years going to school there.

 

Happy Holiday's !

 Richmond Ave. 1930

 

Start a New Family Tradition for the Holidays

Staten Island can truly be a beautiful place around the holidays, if you know where to look and what to do. A lot of people tend to stick to old traditions that have been passed down from their own parents and grandparents, but never really consider starting their own with their kids. Why not though? It could be a great experience that would live on through your children as something that they will never forget. With the number of households that have both parents working increasing, our kids get lost in the everyday shuffle that has become our lives and we lose sight of the important things in life, especially around the holidays. It's no ones fault, there is just so much to do when the year's end starts racing in on you that you forget to take a breath. A simple way to spend time with your family around the holidays in Staten Island, New York, is a Richmond Town's famed Candlelight Tours.

Every year around the holidays you and your family can go back in time right in the middle of suburbia. Richmond Town, located at 411 Clark Ave. here in Staten Island, is beautiful this time of year. With its houses that can be dated back as far as the mid 1600's, its truly a gem that shouldn't be over looked. The whole town is lit up by only candles and oil lamps while everyone of the tour guides and staff is dressed in old fashioned attire. They teach about how Christmas came to be and how its changed and evolved through out the centuries. It's a wonderful way to teach your children how much more there is to Christmas then Santa and gifts, and they will learn to appreciate the holiday so much more. You will walk through all of the old fashioned buildings and experience them like you never have, surely you've been stuck at the light on Aurthur Kill Rd. and looked at this place, but have you ever taken the time out to truly experience it?

The tour costs $22.00 for adults and $10.00 for children under 12. They serve up freshly made old fashioned holiday sweets and they also hold a Wassail Bowl Reception in the towns courthouse. A Wassail Bowl is old fashion hot mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with slices of toast. The ingredients are put into a bowl and heated and and then the toast is added to sop it up. They have caroling and teach songs of the past. If your interested in this unique tour of the past contact 718-351-1611, ext. 281 for reservations, they are a must and slots fill up quickly. To contact through e-mail reservations@historicrichmondtown.org .

The Witch of Staten Island

The year was 1843, it was Christmas Day. In a house that once stood on Forest Ave. across from where now there is a Wendy's and a Perkins, lived sea caption George Houseman, his wife Emeline, and their 20-month-old daughter, Ann Eliza. While the caption was out at sea, as he was on this day, his sister Polly Bodine stayed with the family, as the wife Emeline was scared to be alone. All three of them slept together in one bed in a corner in the kitchen. This being because winters where so hard on Staten Island and they wanted to be closer to the wood burning stove, of course in the summer the bed was moved to a bedroom. As two boys where on their way home from a skating party at 9:00 pm, they noticed a fire blazing, it was a house on fire! The boys rang the fire alarm as fast as they could. Fires where not taking lightly, all the houses where made from wood. People from the surrounding houses came rushing to the house, although they figured that no one was home for the holidays. They knocked down the door and ran into the blazing home searching to make sure there wasn't anyone in the home. That is when they uncovered the horrific scene of a infant babies skull crushed, and her mothers throat cut, her arms broken, and what appeared to be a number of hits to the head using an axe.

Polly Bodine was no where to be found. She didn't live with her brother, she lived across the street with her father. But George's wife was always so scared of people breaking in. She even begged George to take the $1,000 in cash he kept in the house, to his mothers.

The court reports the condition of the body of Emeline as follows: ''The back part of the head was very much burned, part of the skull wanting, and the brain baked by the action of the heat. On the left arm, both bones of the forearm were broken, and one of the bones was white and clear, the other blackened by the heat. . . .'' The baby girl even worse off.

After a few days police had a suspect, and her name was Polly Bodine. No one could figure out why she would do such a thing since she was always so helpful with her niece, and kept her sister-in-law company many a nights. As far as the money that was in fact stolen, Polly had her own money. But nonetheless suspicion fell onto her. She was always at the center of local gossip, even old Staten Island was the same with the gossip. At a time when abortion was unexceptional, Polly had one, while being seperated from her husband, she was sleeping with another man named George Waite who had a drug store in Manhattan. The way she acted following the event had not worked in her favor. On Dec 26th she said she was in the city visiting her lover Waite, but she was seen on the ferry boat leaving Staten Island drinking Gin and eating pie. She was later spotted in a pawn shop, pawing items that belonged to the victims. She was wearing a hooded cape and looked completely detached.

She was arrested on New Years Eve for her crime and gave birth to a still born 3 days later. Her trial was the talk of all media outlets, reporters from all over came to report on the matter, one by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. In his own words he said ''This woman may, possibly, escape. For they manage these matters wretchedly in New York.'' All the top news papers where running stories about the case. People where outraged, a women who had an abortion and a still born, who also killed another child and the mother, ought to be killed herself.

Poe turned out to be right though, she was acquitted at her first trial because it lacked  ''circumstantial evidence in the fourth degree.'' No one really knew what this meant. Another trial went forward but was moved to Manhattan in hopes to find a jury that wasn't biased. She was convicted of the crime but somehow the verdict got over turned. On her third trial her lawyer managed to get her out of the situation completely. She was found not guilty and after spending two years in jail, her first words where " Can I sue Barnum now?" P. T. Barnum made a wax exhibit dedicated to the crime in his museum and dubbed her The Witch of Staten Island. He presented her as a 70 year old toothless hag.

Polly moved back to Staten Island with her reputation ruined. She died at the age of 82 leaving behind two grown children. The case, 152 years later remains unsolved. The final resting place of Emeline and her infant daughter Eliza sits across from a Shoprite in Granitville.

Forget the Cookie Cutter Houses

These days when I look around SI i see what feels like the same houses over and over again. The semis and even the detached houses look exactly the same as the last. Builders are  trying to cram as many house on a single piece of land. This is going on right now by my house off ClayPitt. What was once a stop in the underground railroad is now the home to about 12 new semis. 

But SI wasn't always like this. Staten Island was once KNOWN for their beautiful homes with exquisite architecture. Were gong to take a look at some houses, old and new. 

This was listed as an actors home. The location is West Brighton.

Not really sure what the caption says other then West Brighton. It was too listed as an actors home.

Obviosly the Gustav House is beautiful, it was a great example of Italian Villa style home with its square cupola.

  This is the New Brighton Village Hall. The 1st one is what it once looked like while the 2nd is a now picture.  It has been abandoned since 1968.

Woodland Cottage became a landmark in 1982 and was built in 1845. One of the few left of the Gothic Revival look that was very popular in Clifton before suburbanization.

Tompkinsville looks nothing like this anymore. It was once a wealthy part as well as a desirable part of Staten Island to live in.

This Vanderbilt Home was one of 3 on SI. This one sat one New Drop Lane, but was moved back a few hundred feet. 

Couldn't really find much on this house, but it is beautiful.

Knowing what Stapleton looks like now, can you believe it once looked so nice?

Colonel William E. Ross built this as a replica of Windsor. First it was named Ross castle. It sat on a bluff over looking The Blazing Star Ferry.

Now lets compare:

Need I say more?

Pictures Of The Castle

The Staten Island "Castle"

How beautiful is this? Known as Staten Island's Castle, but named S. R. Smith Infirmary. It was built in 1887 but opened in 1890, that makes it 123 years old. The history of this hospital runs deep, and the need to preserve it runs deeper. Look at it now:

After being abandoned for 31 years, there isn't much left. Covered in graffiti, and all boarded up. Though still beautiful. Amazingly the main structure remains in pretty good tact, but the inside is a whole other story. I am not really sure why the Landmark commission over looks this structure. With the current restoration of the old Sea View Hospital going on it seems very possible that this too could be saved. But then again what do I know?

 
      In 1861, a small hospital was established. It was a one room infirmary and severed the Island's 25,000 population. 3 years later it was relocated to Tompkins Ave. and renamed to S. R Smith. In a year end report dated in 1868 the total of patients was 88 and 57 of them where listed "cured". This was the 1st not-for-profit voluntary hospital in Staten Island. Also the first Charity Ball was held in honor of the hospital.

Much happened in the year of 1890, as the hospitals funds grew so did the need to accomadate a larger amount of people. So the Infirmary moved for the third time to a 6 acre site on Castleton Ave in New Brighton. By the end of that 1st year in its new location the Infirmary treated 346 inpatients and 600 out patients. The year of 1890 was big in the medical field, it was the year insect born infections was discovered. In 1898 military ships sailed into Snug Harbor with soldiers that were wounded in the Spanish-American war, they were treated at this facility. The name was officially changed in 1913 to The Staten Island Hospital.

 For a complete time line on the history of the hospital click HERE:

Inside staircase

Icame across a facebook page that is dedicated to protecting this structure, getting it land marked and restoring and using it. They do tours and rallies. On November 21st they are holding a meeting at the corner of Castleton Ave and Oxfordave and Cebra, New Brighton from 1-3. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Save-the-Castle-aka-SR-Smith-Infirmary/262347164433

The above link is to their facebook page.

Explosion Of The Westfield II Ferry

The Staten Island Ferry has seen it's fair share of disaster. The first time I remember was in 2003, the driver crashed into the dock at the St. George terminal. The driver of the boat plead guilty to manslaughter, word has it not only was he high but he wasn't properly trained on safety regulations. This deadly crash killed 11 people and injured 70.

The next crash was in 2010, this one was far less of a disaster then the one in 2003. No one was killed and about 37 people where hurt with only 1 serious injury. This was also the same boat, the Andrew Barberi, that was involved in the 2003 crash. This time the crash was due to a mechanical failure, the brakes went out as the boat approached the pier.

But my story is about 1871 so ill just get on with it. On July 30th, 1871 a speical boat was added to the tranist line to help deal with the mass of people traveling on Sunday afternoon. This boat was called the Westfield II. The boat wasn't normally apart of the SIT operations, but on this day was being used by it. The boat had about 400 people abored, and departed out of the City between 1 and 2 o'clock. In between this time one of the boilers under the front deck exploded causing an unspeakable amount of horrified screams and cries among passengers and people along the shore line. The explosion was so forceful The New York Times wrote about it as such: "The boiler exploded with terrific power, the whole end of the boat on which the people were gathered was torn to tatters; fragments went upward and outward. But that mass of humanity! Who can picture! Who dare to even think of it! Lifted into the air, hurled into the water, buried in the debris of the wreck, bruised mangled, scalded, roasted, men, women, children, babes, were mingled in a mass of indescribable horror." The New York Times called the Westfield "The Vessel of Death"
As it was first estimated that there were 40 deaths, but after all the passengers where accounted for it was about 125, with many more injured. This is the worst disaster in the ferry boat history since its opening in 1817. The boat was torn to shreds and there was debris floating in the waters near by. Even people who weren't on the boat where scolded and burnt.

this is a wood carving of bodies being discovered.

Following the disaster Jacob Vanderbilt, the president of the Staten Island Railway at the time, was arrested and brought up on charges for murder. There was much gossip about the man who engineered and designed the boat, for he was a colored man who wasn't really qualified as an engineer and who couldn't read, that didn't sit well with a lot of people at the time. Jacob Vanderbilt defended his employee who he had working for him for 16 years. Vanderbilt managed to escape the murder charges. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, though its thought to have something to do with a lose plate under the boiler that could have gave way. The ferry had been inspected as was deemed safe and usable for the public. The inspector said that there was nothing that seemed to be alarming at the time of the inspection. He also said that he cleared the use of 25 pounds of steam to be used, the most to be used under the legal amount. But the ferry’s superintendent, James Braisted said that the practice of  “carrying steam above the pressure allowed by the Inspector’s certificate was not uncommon” and that he “frequently had to reprimand his engineers for carrying steam in excess of that allowed by law.”

The Times ran a story about the survivors and their accounts of what happened here are a few.

Mrs. Abbie Cowan Phillips, was sitting with her husband, two infant children and paternal grandparents in a closed proximity of the ferry at the time the explosion occurred. Speaking through her son, Mrs. Phillips recollected the event:

"Mr. Phillips said that his mother still recalls the horror of the scenes as the boat went down, but clearest of all are recollections of the part her ofnw family played in the tragedy. The two tiny children and the grandparents were lost. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were taken to the same hospital, but occupied different rooms. The wife was badly burned, and underwent what was then one of the pioneer skin-grafting operations. Mrs. Phillips had been told that her husband survived, but believed the doctors were deceiving her. As a matter of fact, her husband had been blinded, but this the hospital authorities feared to inform her. As Mrs. Phillips was recovering she was allowed to wander from ward to ward. One day as she walked about she was gladden by the sound of her husband’s voice, calling to a nurse for some attention. She rushed to him. Mr. Phillips threw his arms about her, and, in the shock and excitement of the reunion, suddenly regained his sight.
Thought for a time the doctors had abandoned hope, Mr. Phillips lived twenty years after the accident."

 Another eyewitness said:

"the forward part of the boat was lifted fifty feet in the air, the smoke stack fell, and everything was buried in the hold. Many persons were blown overboard. A father and a mother had their children blown from their arms. The water in an instant was alive with men, women, and children struggling for life. A number of persons, it is not known how many, were drowned. The debris in the fore part of the hold was first removed. The cries of the poor half boiled victims were heartrending. Stimulants were given them as they struggled beneath the beams, and oil was poured upon their burns. As fast as the wounded were recovered they were borne to the deck of another ferry boat moored alongside, where they were tenderly cared for. As fast as it could be done, they were removed to the various hospitals of the city."

 The engineer of the boat said:

"I have been employed by the Company for 16 years; I was in the fire-room five minutes before the explosion; asked the fireman, PATRICK FINNEGAN, about the water, and he said it was 'all right'; went to the boiler myself, and found the water above the third cock; went up through the engine room and noticed that the gauge indicated 27 pounds of pressure of steam; then I went on deck; in two minutes I came back, and just as I was going down the stairs to the engine room the explosion took place; I cannot say what caused the explosion; the boiler had a patch on the part where the break was; I examined it three days ago and found it in good condition."

 (* the Westfield II was named after the USS Westfield, this boat was sent out to war. I will do a post on this boat at another date)

The Riots and Burning of Marine Hospital

In the early to mid 1800's immigration was at an all time high in New York City. Most of them where carrying infections diseases, and they were all being directed to Staten Island's New York Marine Hospital, a quarantine that sat on Bay St. in Tompkinsville. Like Sea View this hospital was made of more then one building. Each of the buildings housed its own patients with a certain disease. The different diseases ranged from typhus, typhoid, cholera, smallpox, and most terrifyingly, yellow fever. Even the sailors that guided the ships into the harbor had to be quarantined, even if they didn't show symptoms of any sickness.

 As you could imagine this angered a lot of local Staten Islanders. They feared for the borough because at the time Staten Island was a place where mostly the rich lived. With its beautiful houses and prominent oyster farming many feared these diseased immigrates would ruin what they where so proudly building up.

The baggage that the hospital had brought on to Staten Island was devastating. For the half of century the hospital operated, it brought fatal consequence to the outside community repeatedly. An outbreak of yellow fever on the island had started to alarm its residents. So they took action themselves. On September 1st, 1858 a group of Staten Islanders met and discussed what kind of actions they should take in the removal of the hospital. Up until then no one had listened to them about their worries and understandably so they where concerned and angry. They decided on a plan of action like no other, they would burn the place to the ground and take the lives of every last infected nuisance in the damned hospital.

The mob was well organized and made no attempt to disguise themselves. At 9:00 pm on the same day as a celebration was going on across the water in Manhattan for the laying of the Atlantic Cable, the mob stormed the Marine Hospital. They knocked down the cemetery wall and flowed in, the first building they invaded was known as the small pox shanties. They set it on fire in such little time there was no time to react, by the time the building was well on its way to ashes the riot had moved to another building. This building was empty at the time due to renovations it was undergoing. The staff did everything they could, saving the lives of some and putting them on the lawn of the only building that would survive the ordeal. The police on the other hand did nothing but encourage the mob, some of them even assisted. A Doctor arrested some of the cops and locked them in the Woman's Ward. This was only for a short time because some of the mob and a few other police men freed the men. The fire fighters arrived with their truck, but told the doctor there was little they could do to put out the fire because the hose had been cut. Due to sweeping winds from the water the fire grew consuming 7 of the main buildings and several out houses and a coal house that was filled with 600 tons of coal. The mob ran after doctors and servants, they threw valuable documents and new findings as well as developments on the sicknesses in to the flames.They took storm of   Dr. Thompson's private house and chased him, while some enjoyed themselves with his stash of liquor and champagne. Dr. Thompson's house was burned down in less then two hours with his papers and manuscripts blowing around the grounds.

People all over the island where rejoicing, there was nothing left of the hospital except for one standing building known today as Bayley Seton. The only sight to see was smoke and patients laid out on the lawn covered in blankets, some alive, some dead. The mob was made up of some of the most respected and well known men in the Stapleton area including a Justice of Peace. The next day, a meeting was called, it stated as followed: "A meeting of the people of Richmond County will be held at Nautilus Hall, Thompkinsville this evening September the 2nd at 7 1/2 o'clock, for the purpose of making arrangements to celebrate the burning of the Shanties and hospitals on the quarantine grounds last evening, and to transact such other business as may come before the meeting." 

I don't agree with violence, but at this time I am not sure i can blame these people, they may very well have saved us from ruins early on. It is very possible that Staten Island could have become an island of hospitals, this was not the only quarantine station on the island, but that will come later.

The Staten Island Railroad: Then & now

Eltingville 1926

Today the SIR, formally known as Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company, runs from St. George to Tottenville though it used to cover much more of the island. For example there were stops in Port Richmond as well as Marines Harbor and Mt. Loretto even had its own stop. The history of the transit line is very confusing, its a bunch of he bought and sold it to this guy who uprooted tracks here and added some there before selling it to that company, you get what i mean. So I decided that I wouldn't depict every last detail, to hold peoples attention.

The beginning of the railway was in 1851 when the line was created by The Commodore, Cornelius Vanderbuilt. It was meant to connect the Vanderbuilt landing in Stapleton to Clifton. By 1860 the line ran to Tottenville and in 1883 a line was built to the North Shore with a stop in South Beach under the new ownership of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. The whole transit line was finished by 1885 with the tracks that ran through a rock tunnel that connected Stapleton to St. George and docked at the Ferry Terminal that opened in 1897. A stop named Arlington became the terminal for the North Shore Line. If our train line was considered a "subway" it would be the oldest continually operated subway system right-of-way in New York City. 

This train is a vintage 1920 car from the B & O co. According to Forgotten-ny.com, its owned by the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston and is in such bad condition it can not be moved. But in Nov of 2003 it was in fact moved and then later went missing. It is unknown where it wound up. 

The Arthur Kill Bridge established a connection to the mainland of B & O in New Jersey. It was opened in 1890. By 1893 electric trolley service was introduced to the island taking away from the railways success and forcing it in to bankruptcy for the second time. It was at that time in 1899 that B & O bought the rights to the transit line at an auction. They also had rights and ownership of the operations of the ferry that opened in 1897. In 1911 talks of connecting the SIR to BMT subway in Brooklyn by where the Verrazano stands now. Although construction did in fact start, it stopped as quickly as it started due to funding.

a now abandoned Arlington (?) Train Station.

 In 1924 work began on the islands 3 lines known as electrification.  The only line to not become electrified was the tracks to Mt. Loretto. From 1885 until the 1920s every third Sunday a special three car MU electric train would run as a special directly from St. George to Mount Loretto, stay there for 3 hours and return. The stop was behind an old church. The special train would travel and cross over Amboy by being flagged across the street. This was disconnected after bus service started from St. George along Hylan Blvd. On July 2nd (my birthday!) 1925 the main transit line from St. George to Tottenville was completely electrified, and on Dec 25 of that same year the line to Arlington was too. Originally there was another station down from Arlington in the town called Miliken, later named Port Ivory. This extension was electrified as well and was used to transport Proctor & Gamble employees. P & G had their own railroad and fleet that interchanged at the Arlington Yard. This area is now the site of the Howland Hook Marine Terminal.

an abandoned train station in West Brighton

Steps at Nassau

During the 1930's a lot of accidents where happening at the crossroads. People where getting hit and the trains where unable to stop so abruptly. So for safety reasons those crossings were removed. The were removed in stages over the next 3o years.

Today the Staten Island Railway runs only to Tottenville and back to St. George. There was talk in the early 90's to close a few of the stations near Tottenville and just keep the Tottenville stop. They wanted to close the Atlantic and Nassau stops when the state was renovating the rest of the stops. Though they didn't close them, they also skipped them entirely when doing the renovations on the rest of the railway. Actually they both haven't been touched since the 70's! The only reason that the Atlantic stop is there is because in 1898, there was a factory in Tottenville called The Atlantic Terra Cotta Works, this company supplied alot of the terra cotta tile used in the original Interborough Rapid Transit, so the stop was built to ease the commute of the workers there. It's crazy and if you use these stops you know how truly unsafe some of the spots are. The stops that once were along the north line have been left abandoned or are no longer there. The service of the North Shore and South Beach line was completely cut off March 31st 1953. B & O sold the Tottenville line to The City of New York, after a 99 year lease.

Old Staten Island..

Apparently New Dorp had a precint

Bently St by the old ferry to Jersey

an old fast food joint that succumbed to McDonald's