Tottenville, Staten Island
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and New York State. Originally named Bentley Manor by one of its first settlers, Captain Christopher Billop
Christopher Billopp (Royal Navy officer)
Christopher Billopp was an English officer of the Royal Navy in the seventeenth century who commanded various ships of the line including in the Battle of Bantry Bay...
(1638-1726), after a small ship he owned named the Bentley, the district was renamed Tottenville in 1869, apparently in honor of the locally prominent Totten family whose name can be seen on tombstones in one of the earliest churches, Bethel, on Amboy Road.
History
The Raritan band of the UnamiUnami
Unami may refer to:*the Lenape language, or its sublanguage the Unami language*Unami Creek*the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq *the Unami Lodge...
Indians, a branch of the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
or Delaware nation, were the original inhabitants of all Staten Island, including Tottenville. The largest pre-European burial ground known as Burial Ridge
Burial Ridge
Burial Ridge is a Lenape burial ground located on a bluff overlooking Raritan Bay in what is today the Tottenville section of Staten Island. The burial ground, the largest pre-European burial ground in New York City is unmarked and lies today within Conference House Park.Evidence of prior Native...
, is located in Conference House Park.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, as it was the site of a ferry that crossed the Arthur Kill
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
to the Ferry Slip
Perth Amboy Ferry Slip
The Perth Amboy Ferry Slip, located on Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, was once a vital ferry slip for boats in New York Harbor.It was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The ferry slip was restored in 1998 to its 1904...
in Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The City of Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 50,814. Perth Amboy is known as the "City by the Bay", referring to Raritan Bay.-Name:The Lenape...
. This ferry became less important when the Outerbridge Crossing
Outerbridge Crossing
The Outerbridge Crossing is a cantilever bridge which spans the Arthur Kill. The "Outerbridge", as it is commonly known, connects Perth Amboy, New Jersey, with the New York City borough of Staten Island and carries NY-440 and NJ-440, each road ending at the respective state border.The bridge was...
opened in 1928, but continued to operate until 1963.
Two distinctive landmarks, the Bethel United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
(erected in 1840 and rebuilt on the same site in 1886 after a fire had destroyed the original structure), and an abandoned factory originally built in 1900 for use as a smelting plant and later operated for recycling by Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies
Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
(which closed the facility in 2001), stand at the northern approaches to the neighborhood. Tottenville is bounded on the west and south by the Arthur Kill
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
and on the east by Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan...
(the mouth of the Raritan River
Raritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
lies immediately to the south of where the Arthur Kill
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
empties into the bay, which is also sometimes reckoned as being part of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
). At the opposite end is the Conference House
Conference House
The Conference House was built before 1680 and is located near the southernmost tip of New York State on Staten Island, which became known as "Billop's Point" in the 18th century. The Staten Island Peace Conference was held here on September 11, 1776, which unsuccessfully attempted to end the...
, built by Christopher Billop and so named because it was the site of abortive negotiations in 1776 to end the Revolutionary War (it is now the centerpiece of the city park known by the same name). The Billop family, who built the estate in 1678, continued to own it and the surrounding property at the time the 1776 meeting took place, but in 1784 their land was confiscated because the family had been Tories
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
during the war.
Many small factories once dotted the neighborhood's western shoreline, but most of these are no longer in operation. Boat construction also once flourished along this shoreline, but this industry was rendered obsolete when the practice of using steel rather than wood to build boats became dominant in the years immediately after 1900. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
spawned a revival of shipbuilding activity, but it proved only temporary, and Tottenville's last shipyard closed in 1930. Another activity formerly prominent in Tottenville was the harvesting of oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s from the surrounding waters, which ceased in 1916 when the New York City Health Department determined that pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
had made it unsafe. As of 2005, oyster harvesting has since been reopened.
During the 1990s, the section of Tottenville southeast of Hylan Boulevard
Hylan Boulevard
Hylan Boulevard is a major northeast-southwest boulevard in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is approximately long , and runs from the North Shore neighborhood of Rosebank to the South Shore neighborhood of Tottenville....
, until then nearly uninhabited, saw massive new home construction, but the district's population density still ranks among the lowest in New York City, as does the crime rate. Business establishments were largely restricted to the Main Street corridor in the heart of the neighborhood until the early 2000s, when a second commercial core began to emerge at the north end of the community, along Page Avenue west of Amboy Road; further expansion of the latter area is due in 2005 as the former Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies
Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
property is being developed for this purpose. Starting in October 2006, the western part of the site is being cleaned up, and is scheduled to be finished within a year. The factory, Nassau Smelting and Refining, was purchased by Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
in the middle 20th century and used principally to recycle copper and other metals from old wires until it was closed late in the century by Lucent. The site suffered chemical contamination. Mill Creek, which runs through the site, will also be cleaned as part of the project. TOttenville 8 and HOneywood 6 in Eltingville were the last telephone exchanges on Staten Island where Operators connected all calls. In the late 1950s, the YUkon 4 dial exchange replaced the "Number Please?
Telephone operator
A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain...
" girls.
Recent History
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
-fueled brawl broke out at the Tottenville firehouse, home of Engine Company 151 and Ladder Company 76 of the New York City Fire Department
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...
, resulting in one firefighter, Robert Walsh, being hospitalized in critical condition after being hit with a metal folding chair. Firefighter Michael Silvestri was arrested and charged with assault in connection with the incident, which led to six members of the unit, including its commander, Captain Terrence Sweeney, being transferred to other firehouses.
Many large, stately homes built in Tottenville in the 19th Century remain standing; however, in recent years, land developers have been buying up the property on which several of these homes have stood, with the intention of demolishing them and constructing townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
s on the property. The fate of one such home, which had been the parsonage of Bethel Methodist Church, located at 7484 Amboy Road, became the focus of an intense local controversy in March, 2005, when the community rose up in opposition to plans by builder John Grossi, who had purchased the property, to raze the home and construct five townhouse units on the site. On March 17 Grossi angrily spray-painted graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
on the house, built circa 1870, which included a threat to populate it with low-income tenants under the federal Section 8
Section 8 (housing)
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...
housing program; the resulting public outcry prompted New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
to have the home declared a landmark, thus preventing its demolition. Bloomberg announced his decision to do this during a visit to Tottenville on March 22, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...
made the designation official on April 12. Since then, no noticeable effort has been made to restore the home, which remains in a dilapidated condition.
In March 2008, over 20 blocks in the northern section of the neighborhood were changed over to one-way streets, more effectively managing traffic on the older, narrower blocks.
Victorian Heritage
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
heritage, akin to neighborhoods on Staten Island's North Shore
North Shore, Staten Island
The term North Shore is frequently applied to a series of neighborhoods within New York City's borough of Staten Island, USA.- Boundaries :...
. This is unique to this South Shore
South Shore, Staten Island
The South Shore is a geographical term applied to the area in the New York City borough of Staten Island, south and east of the island's ridge of hills along the waterfront and adjacent areas from the Narrows to the mouth of the Arthur Kill, although many observers prefer to restrict its scope to...
neighborhood, compared to the other South Shore
South Shore, Staten Island
The South Shore is a geographical term applied to the area in the New York City borough of Staten Island, south and east of the island's ridge of hills along the waterfront and adjacent areas from the Narrows to the mouth of the Arthur Kill, although many observers prefer to restrict its scope to...
areas, all of which were developed much later. Seven buildings in Tottenville have been honored with the Preservation League of Staten Island Award: 88 Bentley Street, 24 Brighton Street, 213 Wood Avenue, 115 Bentley Street, 7647 Amboy Road, 7639 Amboy Road, and the Tottenville Branch of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
. 88 Bentley Street has even been photographed as an example of Staten Island's carefully restored Victorian homes in "New York City - The Five Boroughs: A Photographic Tour" by Carol M. Highsmith and Ted Landphair, published 1997. In addition, the Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne (Staten Island, New York)
Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne (Staten Island, New York)
The Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne is a former Roman Catholic parish under the authority of the Archdiocese of New York in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City....
was restored after a fire into a home for children.
Demographics
Tottenville's population is largely white (nearly 95 per cent as of 1990), with extremes of both wealth and povertyPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
being essentially absent, and the neighborhood has a much higher proportion of Protestants
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
than is encountered on Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
as a whole, which is heavily Roman Catholic
Roman Catholicism in the United States
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, the Christian Church in full communion with the Pope. With more than 68.5 registered million members, it is the largest single religious denomination in the United States, comprising about 22 percent of the population...
. In the mid-2000s, the community witnessed the arrival of Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
immigrants for the first time. There is also a growing number of Coptic Orthodox
Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States
The immigration of the Copts to the United States of America started as early as the late 1940s. After 1952, the rate of Coptic immigration from Egypt to the United States increased. The first Coptic church in the United States is St...
Christians from Egypt, as there is currently one Coptic parish in Tottenville. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleman/sets/72157605439607688/
The 2000 Census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
showed that ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
10307, essentially coterminous with Tottenville (a fortuitous circumstance as most neighborhoods of New York City
Neighborhoods of New York City
The Neighborhoods in New York City are located within "The Five Boroughs" of New York City.-Boroughs:New York City is split up into five boroughs, which are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.-Community areas:...
do not have officially recognized boundaries) had a population of 9,207, whose median age was 35.4, and the zip code's per-capita income was found to be $27,688. The average household size was 2.99 persons.
Tottenville consists of the census tracts 248 and 244.01. The demographics were 87% Nonhispanic White, 1% Black, 2% Asian, and 1% Multiracial. Hispanics of any race made up 9% of the population.
The median income of the area was around $76,000 in 2009 (http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Tottenville-Staten-Island-NY.html). The numbers are a little bit higher because Tottenville Beach is slightly wealthier. Roughly 5% of the population lives below the poverty line.
The 123rd Precinct of the New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
has its headquarters there, as does the Engine Co. 151/Ladder Co. 76 of the New York City Fire Department
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...
, and the neighborhood also has a branch of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
Transportation
Tottenville has been the southern terminus of the Staten Island RailwayStaten Island Railway
The Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, publicly known as MTA Staten Island Railway or SIR, is the operator of the lone rapid transit line in the borough of Staten Island, New York City, USA...
since the railway was extended to the neighborhood on June 2, 1860, and today the three southernmost stations along this railway are generally regarded as part of the community; besides the terminal station which bears the neighborhood's name
Tottenville (Staten Island Railway station)
Tottenville is a Staten Island Railway station in the neighborhood of Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. Located near Main Street and Arthur Kill Road, it is the southern terminus on the main line and the southernmost railway station in New York State....
(which is the southernmost railway station in New York state), the other two are Atlantic
Atlantic (Staten Island Railway station)
Atlantic is a Staten Island Railway station in the neighborhood of Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. Located roughly at Fisher Avenue and Arthur Kill Road on the main line, it is at grade level with side platforms that can hold only one car. Unlike most short platforms where the first car goes...
(named after the defunct Atlantic Terra Cotta Co. factory nearby) and Nassau
Nassau (Staten Island Railway station)
Nassau is a Staten Island Railway station located roughly between the neighborhoods of Tottenville and Charleston , in Staten Island, New York. In the St. George bound direction it is located at Bethel Avenue and Saint Andrews Place. In the Tottenville bound direction it is at the end of Nassau...
(referring to Nassau Smelting and Refining, the original name of the factory later taken over by Lucent Technologies). The MTA plans to close the Atlantic and Nassau stations, replacing them with the Arthur Kill Road station
Arthur Kill Road (Staten Island Railway station)
Arthur Kill is a planned future station on the Staten Island Railway that will replace the Atlantic and Nassau stations. It will be accessible to disabled persons and include a 150-car parking lot on property owned by SIR...
with a parking lot. Tottenville is also served by two full-time (S74 and S78) and one-part time (S59) city bus routes, as well as the rush hour-only express route the X22.
Schools
Tottenville High SchoolTottenville High School
Tottenville High School is located at 100 Luten Avenue, in Huguenot, Staten Island, New York. It is within walking distance of the Huguenot train station of the Staten Island Railway system. Tottenville H.S. is in administrative district 31. The school’s current principal is John P. Tuminaro...
, a public school, was originally located in the neighborhood, but a new campus was opened approximately three miles to the north, in the neighborhood of Huguenot
Huguenot, Staten Island
Huguenot is the name of a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. In recent years it has become increasingly customary to refer to the western part of Huguenot as a separate neighborhood called Woodrow...
, in 1972 (Totten Intermediate or I.S. 34, a junior high school, now occupies the original high school building). One of the area's oldest buildings is the old building of P.S.1 (the Tottenville School), dating from 1878, and is unique for its traditional sloped roof. Today it is still in operation, now served by a second, newer building as well, built in 1929. In 2000, a new elementary school, P.S.6 (the Corporal Allan F. Kivlehan School), was opened to serve eastern Tottenville's growing population, as well as other neighboring areas. Tottenville's local Catholic school is Our Lady Help of Christians School, which is run under Our Lady Help of Christians Parish. The school dates back to 1904.
The southern part of Tottenville below Hylan Boulevard is also known as Tottenville Beach
Tottenville Beach, Staten Island
Tottenville Beach is a name sometimes used to denote the southeastern part of Tottenville, the southernmost neighborhood of Staten Island, in the city of New York City....
.
Public libraries
New York Public LibraryNew York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
operates the Tottenville Branch at 7430 Amboy Road.
External links
- Tottenville is situated at 40°31′N 74°15′W.