Found 722 blog entries tagged as 10312.

Before the mid-nineteenth century the neighborhood of Huguenot was originally known as Bloomingview.  Huguenot got hp9_400its name from the many Huguenots, members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France that had moved to the area.  The Huguenots were being prosecuted in France for not converting to Catholicism during the mid-to-late seventeenth century, so many of them fled to America.

By 1851, the Huguenots had established and built their first church in Bloomingview, called "The Brown Church" or "The Church of the Huguenots".  The church had caught on fire in 1918 and was rebuilt on the site that it sits on now, in 1924.  Today, this church is a New York City Landmark and is known as The Reformed Church of Huguenot Park.

By the mid-to-late 1800s,…

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The neighborhood of Huguenot began to be established in the middle of the seventeenth century.  At this time, the area was known as Bloomingview. Pierre Billiou and his wife Francoise were some of the first Huguenots to settle on Staten Island. Huguenots were people that were a part of the Protestant Reformed Church of France.  At that time, their people were being prosecuted for not converting to Catholicism and those who were lucky enough fled their homeland for America.Kingdom Park, Staten Island

By 1849, there were many Huguenots living in Bloomingview and, thanks to religious freedom, the Church of the Huguenots was established. Just two years later, the church was built and was known as "The Brown Church" or "The Church of the Huguenots".  By 1918, the church had caught on…

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Prior to the building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island was more of a vacation area than anything else.  Once the bridge was opened in 1964, many people started to move to Staten Island on a permanent basis. As more 
people wanted to move onto the Island, there were more houses being built, as well as housing communities.

Blueberry Park EltingvilleOn the South Shore of Staten Island, in the neighborhood of Eltingville, one of the housing communities that was built after the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was Atlantic Village. This community is located right off of Arden Avenue and has nice views of the Raritan Bay, being that the houses are across the street from it.  This housing community was built between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s.

When creating…

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Intermediate School 7 was first established in 1960 as Bernstein Intermediate School 7.  The school was constructed in the shape of an "L", taking up about three quarters of a rectangular plot of land.  Around that same time, the Prescott Playground, Staten Islandremaining quarter of land was acquired by the City of New York to be established as a park.  The school opened to the public in 1965 at 1270 Huguenot Avenue with the park following it just two short years later.

The City of New York had assigned this park to both the New York City Board of Education and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.  Due to its location, it was named Huguenot Playground.  The name of the park was changed, however, in 1997.  Prescott Playground was the name it took that year, in honor of…

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In 2011, a park opened in the neighborhood of Annadale.  For years, the land taken up by the park, as well as surrounding land, had been undeveloped.  By the end of the 1960s, after the housing boom, one house was built on Drumgoole Tot Lot, in Staten Islandthe property of the current park.  This house was demolished just a few years later, however.  Up until 2010, the land was left to its own devices and a gate protected the wildlife within.

In the middle of February of 2010, construction began on the parcel of land.  Construction was completed in April of 2011.  By the end of July of 2011, the park opened as Drumgoole Tot Lot.  Drumgoole Tot Lot is located to the west of the Korean War Veterans Parkway.  It is bounded to the north by Grantwood Avenue, to the south by Carlton Boulevard,…

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Ida Court is a small playground park located on the South Shore of Staten Island. The land of the park is in the shape of a triangle and is only about one and a half acres in size. Ida Court is bordered by the streets of Ida Court to the east and Drumgoole Road East to the northwest. It is also bordered by North Railroad Street to the south, which currently ends once it reaches the parkland. 

Prior to being a park, this land was purchased by the City of New York for the Richmond Parkway. The Richmond Parkway opened in 1972; however, the land began to be acquired for it during the 1960s. Since 1997, the Richmond Parkway has been known as the Korean War Veterans Parkway. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation acquired this land for park…

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lieutenant_john_h._martinson_playground_1_400Over the years, you will find name changes of many areas and locations. This is especially true when major changes, such as construction, occur. Staten Island has had many name changes to its features. In fact, there was one park that had gone through three different name changes in a span of only fifty years.

In 1959, construction began on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Officials believed that the construction of this bridge would allow for a major influx of people moving to Staten Island. If that were to happen, these new residents would need facilities which would cater to their families-such as parks. In 1962, a little parcel of land was acquired by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It was located between the streets of Koch…

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Arbutus Woods Park is approximately two and a half acres of woodlands in the neighborhood of Huguenot. It is located between Arbutus Avenue and Stecher Street, with the entrance to the park being on Stecher Street. Arbutus Woods Park is
named after the trailing arbutus plant, which used to grow all over Staten Island, especially in this area, prior to 1940. It is now extinct due to the fact that many local residents used the plant as a salad vegetable. The trailing arbutus plant grows low to the ground; it has clusters of small pink/white flowers, trailing woody stems, and oval leaves that are smooth on top and slightly hairy on the bottom.

The park is part of the Arbutus Creek watershed. This watershed was given to the Department of Parks and…

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About Woodhull Park, Staten Island

In March of 2001, Staten Island lost one of its most recognized activists: Lorraine Sorge.  Lorraine Sorge was greatly involved in the borough. She had been known for speaking her mind on topics such as the closing of the woodhull_park2_400South Shore's Staten Island University Hospital, the construction of a jail on Staten Island, and toll hikes on Staten Island's bridges. In each case, she was very much against each proposal.  At the time of her death, Lorraine Sorge was president of the Staten Island Taxpayer's Association, a non-profit organization made up of Staten Islanders of all communities who are dedicated to improving the whole of the Island.

Aside from being the president of the Staten Island Taxpayer's Association,…

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Bayview Terrace Park is located in the neighborhood of Annadale. It is made up of about two acres of land between Holdridge Avenue and Bennett Place, below Bayview Terrace and next to the ocean. There used to be a nice beach located next to the park that has submerged under water since the late 1950s. Now the park overlooks what is lef
t of the beach with a 17-foot drop down to it.

Bayview Terrace Park is a garden area created by the local gardeners of the area. Before the local gardeners came along to fix it up, the land used to be a city-owned lot filled with trash. In 1991, the local gardeners leased the land from the City to start cleaning it up. With rising rent prices, they went to Community Board 3 to get their help to transfer the lot to the…

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