On January 30, 1952, the City of New York acquired a parcel of land which was made up of only three acres. The site was owned by the New York City Housing Authority, who had a housing complex built on an adjacent lot, at 200 grandview_park_400Lockman Avenue. The housing complex became known as the Mariners' Harbor Houses, due to the fact that it is located in the neighborhood which bears the same name. On June 27, 1957, the New York City Housing Authority leased the three-acre parcel of land to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. There, they constructed what would be known as the Mariners' Harbor Houses Playground.

With the Mariners' Harbor Houses housing complex bordering the park to the north and east, that leaves just two other boundaries. To the…

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It's certainly amazing when a community comes together for a cause. When that cause is to help parents whose children had been kidnapped, it's really something else. On July 9, 1987, twelve-year-old Jennifer Schweiger went jennifer_playground_400missing. Hundreds of volunteers joined together in a search that lasted thirty-five days. On August 13, 1987, a body had been found in a shallow grave at the site of the Staten Island Developmental Center in Willowbrook, an institution for mentally disabled children. As it turned out, the body was indeed that of Jennifer Schweiger.

In 1971, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation acquired a site of roughly one-and-a-half acres in the neighborhood of Graniteville. At the time, the park that was constructed there was known…

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In the early 17th century, many Dutch families immigrated to the New Netherland area of the United States. One of miller3_400these families was from the village De Bilt, in the Netherlands. The family was then known as Van der Bilt, which, in Dutch, means "from the Bilt". Cornelius Vanderbilt, a descendant of the Vanderbilt family, became a philanthropic entrepreneur, owning much land in Staten Island. In 1836, he bought farmland in the New Dorp area, which was, at the time, the club ground for the Richmond County Agricultural Society.

In 1919, the land was sold to the federal government by descendants of Cornelius Vanderbilt. By 1921, an airfield was completed on the property. It was named Miller Field, for the first American aviator Killed-In-Action serving in…

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When looking at Staten Island's parks, you may notice that some of their names are quite odd. If you're like me, you have probably wondered how they received their names. Well it may not come as a shock to you, but most of these parks were actually named for people. More importantly, a good number of them were named for prominent gaeta_park_2_400residents of Staten Island.

On the North Shore of Staten Island, you will find one of these parks. This would be what is known as Gaeta Park, a triangular piece of land in the neighborhood of Willowbrook. This land is bordered by streets on three sides: to the west you have North Gannon Avenue, to the east is Victory Boulevard, and to the north is Wyona Avenue. The park was named for a politician who was well-known in his day,…

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In 1904, a public school was erected on Pleasant Avenue in the area then known as Bogardus Corners-today's Rossville. On June 28, 1939, the two-classroom school, which was known as P.S. 31, was given over to the New York Citydavis_park_final_400 Board of Estimate. However, by August 25 of that same year, the New York City Board of Education reclaimed the site so that it could be used to store furniture. Being too small to store furniture while still operating as a school, the school closed down.  It wasn't until the middle of the twentieth century that a new building was constructed for P.S. 31. This building, however, was located quite far from the original site. Today, it is located at the northern tip of Staten Island, in the neighborhood of St. George.

On January 22,…

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dongan_playground_1_400Located in the neighborhood of Dongan Hills is the Dongan Playground. It is bounded by streets on three sides and a school on the fourth side. The three streets that border the park are Buel Avenue, Mason Avenue, and Dongan Hills Avenue. The school that is located next to the park is Public School 52.

Dongan Playground became part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in 1968. When it first opened it was known as P.S. 52 Playground, for the school located next to it. In 1986, the name of the park changed to Mason Playground, for one of the bordering streets. In 1997, the name of the park changed to what it is known as today, Dongan Playground.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner renamed the park Dongan…

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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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