Rapid Transit Railroad Company
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A dvertiseme_nts. f HE SiAf EN ISL,AND Rapid Transit. Railroad. Company. Boats leave foot of Whitehall street (the only point in New York reached by all Elevated roads without change) . EVERY 25 MINUTES, from 6 to 10 A. 1u. and from 3 to 7 P. lI., and at frequent intervals at other times of the day and evening. • Down the beautiful Bay, passing Bartholdi's famous Statue of Liberty, and all points of interest in the Harbor. PULL~AN-CAR TRAINS, thoroughly equipped in every particular, run to Clifton, Elm Park and intermediate points, i_n connection with_ each boat Frequent trains to Perth Amboy, Tottenville, and the great fishini grounds at Richmond Valley, Prince's Bay, Huguenot, Eltingville and Giffords. PICNIC GROUNDS at ·_"the \Voods of Arden, Oriental Park, Peteler's South Beach Pavilion, Burbank"s, Gebhardfs Park, Silver Lake and Elm Park. FAl\'IOUS GARDENS at Clifton, Stapleton and West New Brighton. THE Al\1USE1.\IENT COMPANY'S BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS are at St. George, the home of the Metropolitan Base-Ball ·club. Base Ball, Cricket and Lacrosse. Electrical Fountains at night. The finest Grand Stand· in America. Concerts by Cappa's Seventh Regiment Band .. Do not fail to see BUFFALO BILL'S WILD WEST SHO"\V, opening at Mariner·s .Harbor on June 20th . : .. ~ DIREGT "ROUTE TO 111 PIRT~- OF STITEN ISLIND.~ STEEL RAILS Al'l.D ROCK BALLAST. SAFETY, COMFORT AND SPEEIJ. Information gladly given on application at the . Company's Office, foot of Whitehall .St._, __ New York- .. ILLUSTRATED • SKETCH• BOOK • OF STA TEN· ISLAND, NEW YORK, ITS INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE. NEW YORK: S. C. JUDSON, 30 EAST 14 TH STREET. 1886. Entered according to Act· of Congress, in ·the year 1886, by S. C. JUDSON, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. l!"rom Press of THE STA?i<-»ARD PBDi--nNG ~"D .PuBLIS~G Co., No. 33 Water' Street, :Sew York. PREFACE. \ \ IN the preparation of the following pages the main object has been the accumulation and presentation of facts. No claim is made to literary excellence. It is believed that .a more inti1nate knowledge of the curious and eventful histpry of Staten Island ~n the past, and an accurate and -comprehensive sketch of its present advantages and attrac tions, cannot fail to be full of interest and profit to .large numbers of people. With that end in vievv the data herein contained have been gathered ,vith care. Acknowledgments and thanks are hereby cordially ex tended to those gentlemen ,vho have give~ valuable aid in the task of compilation, and to those merchants and ·public-spirited men who have encouraged the work by their material support. THE AUTHOR. NEW YORK, May, 1886. A dvertiscmenls. 7 THE ONLY l\ilAGAZINE IN .AMERICA DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE DECORATING . AND FuRNISHl~G OF THE HOME. ~ecorator .y. anb .y. lurnisber, An Illustrated iWonthly :Jour_nal -OF- PRACTICAL INFORrvlATION -ON- Brtistically Flurnisbin~ and 'Becoratin~ tbe House, WRITTE~ UPON A.·,m ILLUSTRATED BY THE MOST PROMINENT WRITERS & ARTISTS IN THIS COU1VTRY AN.D EUROPE. I Subscription, - - - - $4.00 per Year. Single Copies, - - 35 Cents. TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION FOR THREE MONTHS, ONE DOLLAR. THE DEGO~ATOR AND FUil_NISHE~ COMP_J\NY, 30 and 32 East Fourteenth Street) . NEW YORK CITY. 8 A dverti'semenls . STATEN ISLAND REAL ESTATE A SPECIALTY. OFFICES: 26 PINE ·_ STREET, NEW YORK, AKD NEW BRIGHTON, ST A TEN ISLAND. FOB S.A.LE7 . At New Brighton, West New Brighton, Port Richmond, Clifton and Grymes Hill, elegant i1:ansions, Cottages and Building Sites ; also, Farms and \Vater Fronts. TO LET7 At New Brighton, and all accessible places on North and South Shores, Furnished and Unfurnished Houses of every description. MILLER & SIM-ONSON, EAL ESTATE &FIRE INSURANCE . 51 -Liberty Street, New York, 177 Richmond Terrace, West ~ew Brighton. Rents Collected and Entire Charge of Property Taken. ACENTS FOR STATEN ISLAND OF THE Liv~rpool & London & Globe, · Continental, German-American, Hanover and Phenix fire 1Jns11rance ~ompanies. ST ATEN l.SLAND. 1886. TATEN ISLAND; "the emerald gem -- lying between crystal seas," is, without ·question, one of the most picturesque and · charming spots in America. Far enough away fron1 the great city to pre serve all the delightful beauties of nature, • and near enough to admit of rapid and •-1; ~ comfortable transit, it is enjoyed by all @~ii classes of citizens as a place for residence, recreation and business. · Its shores are almost everywhere dotted with the villas of New York business and professional men. Its numerous villages are animate with life. Its dwellers are active, intelli gent and interested in the best welfare and development of their minds and bodies ; and the internal economy and government of the Island are so administeted as to secure good order and domestic happiness. DESCRIPTIVE. Staten Island is located in the Bay of New York, dis-· tant about five and a-half miles from the city, at St. George, the nearest poirit. It i~ in forn1 an irregular tri angle, its extreme length being thirteen and one-half miles, and extreme breadth about seven and three-fou_rth miles. The Kill Van Kull sepa- j i rates it from Newark Bay and New Jersey on the north; New York Harbor and the Lower B~y bound it on the east and south, and Staten Island Sound and the Arthur Kill run between it and New Jersey, on the west. Its area is about sixty square miles, nearly all under cultivation. The surface is greatly diversified, and ex_hibits smooth, fertile plains, beautiful- val leys and stately hills covered with verdure, from whose summits grand and noble views .of the surrounding country and moving life on the waters can be obtained. No such charming variety of scenery can be found within one hundred miles of New York. A ridge of hills about 3co feet above tide-water stretches from n~rth east to southwest. From the highest point o_f Ocean Hill, known in IO Sketch Book of Staten Island. old records as .Toad Hill, there is on every side a magnificent panorama. Looking over the plains of-Sou"thfield, from which rises almost abruptly this ridge, we see miles away the blue and misty ran·ge ·of the Navesink, the broad Bay qetween us like a mirror, covered with white'.""winged .sails~ or with long trails of foam from passing steamers; at the contracted chann-el of the Narrows, bold bluffs crowned with forts; eastward, Long Island's wooded shores; northward, the lovely Upper Bay of New York, bounded-by the thousand dwellings and spires of the metropolis; still beyond, the dis tant Palisades; westward, the shores of New Jersey, with her innumerable towns and villages and their background of Orange Mountains, and, between, the narrow ribbon of the Kill Van Kull and the opening of Newark Bay; then the meadows of the Island and the Jersey shores, between which still threads the Arthur Kill as far as Raritan River-all these waters covered: with passing craft of every size and description. Looking nearer home, we see a succession of valleys between the hills, green with verdure, and forest patches, and many a cottage and farm-house. From the lesser hills, although the entire wide horizon is not visible, there is no view without its glimpses of water, either of sea, bay or river, and undulating billows of gre·en hills and valleys. The scene from the high bluffs at the Narrows is one of nearer beauty than the more distant hills, and the wonder and admiration of all beholders. Rising abruptly about a hun dred feet from the water's edge, one gazes down at the channel, nearly 100 feet in depth. A great steamer is passing. ,v e could throw a- stone on her deck, and every spar and rope and person on her are distinctly visible. The massive fort, with its gray walls, stands clear in the sunlight. Across the Narrows, the Stars and Stripes float over Fort Hamilton. Ten miles away. aln1ost mingling their blue outlines with sky and water, stretch the Jersey mountains, and a hundred sails dot the distance. Looking towards New York, the Upper Bay is bounded eight miles off by the great city, with its dark rows of houses and its thousand tapering masts, and the grace ful span of the noble East River Bridge. Staten Island, with its curving shores, its undulating hills, its numerous villages, its patches of forest and cultivated lands, spreads out like a veritable Eden. The sail to and from Staten Island, over the beautiful bay of New York, is inspiring and romantic, as well as healthful. Such a pleasing and instructive combination of land and water life, backed by grand scenery, cannot be duplicated on the Continent. The most conspicuous object on the journey, and close to which all Staten Island boats pass, will · be the colossal statue of '' Liberty Enlightening the. World,:, on Bedloe's Island, the location chosen for it by General vV. T. Sh~rman, who ,vas appointed by the President to make the selection. This new wonder of the world is the largest statue in the universe. Some idea of its magnitude may be obtained from the fact that forty persons found standing room :within the head. A six-foot man standing on the level of the lips only just reached the eyebrows. While workmen were employed on the crown of its head they seemed to be m~king -a huge sugar caldron, and they jumped with ease in and out of the tip of tµe nose. Fifteen people might sit round the flame of the torch, which elevation can be reached by a spiral staircase within the outstretched arm.