Prodigy Real Estate - SI NY Real Estate Blog - Points of Interest

Tompkinsville Park, Tompkinsville Staten Island

Long before any settlements were established on Staten Island, explorers would visit the island to obtain fresh water from a spring on Staten Island's northeastern shore.  Once people began to settle on Staten Island, this well-known fact led to the naming of a settlement here as Watering Place.  Eventually, the settlement turned into a neighborhood, which came to be known as Tompkinsville.  It was named after a nineteenth-century governor of the State of New York, Daniel D. Tompkins.

In 1916, a seven-foot monument was sculpted by Allen G. Newman and given to the City of New York.  The monument, known as The Hiker, was constructed to honor the soldiers who fought during the Spanish-American War.  For some time, the monument stood in front of Staten…

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McDonald Playground, West Brighton Staten Island

On the North Shore of Staten Island, at the northeastern corner of Broadway and Forest Avenue, you can find a McDonald's fast food restaurant. Behind this fast food restaurant, to the northeast, you can find McDonald Playground, whose northern boundary is Myrtle Avenue.  It may be hard to believe, but it is actually by mere coincidence that the McDonald's fast food restaurant and McDonald Playground are located right next to each other, as neither of the two facilities were named due to the location of the other one.

McDonald Playground was opened on July 15, 1934.  It was named in honor of Austin J. McDonald, a resident of New York City who had attended the nearby Curtis High School.  McDonald entered the First World War in 1917 and was killed in…

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Markham Playground, Willowbrook Staten Island

In 1959, Intermediate School 51 was built on Staten Island's North Shore.  The Markham Intermediate School, as it is also known, was named for Edwin Markham, a California teacher and school principal.  Markham became known to Staten Islanders after having published works of poetry and soon after moved to Staten Island.  While residing on Staten Island, he lived nearby, in the neighborhood of Westerleigh.

In 1962, a parcel of land adjacent to the school was transformed to be used as the school's playground.  It was then known as Junior High School 51 Playground.  For years, the playground has been operated by both the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the New York City Board of Education.  During the latter part of the twentieth…

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Mahoney Playground, New Brighton Staten Island

In 1933, a little less than two acres of land were acquired by the New York City Board of Education, who was planning 
on constructing a school on the site.  Three years passed and nothing had been done, so the site was transferred to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.  By 1939, a playground had opened on the site.

In 1940, the playground was dedicated to honor Michael J. Mahoney, a member of the United States Marine Corps who 

was killed during the First World War.  Before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps, Mahoney lived on Staten Island in the neighborhood of New Brighton.  At the dedication, Mahoney's eldest brother presented a plaque which was cast in honor of the fallen soldier.

In 1961, the New York City Housing…

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Lopez Playground, Park Hill Staten Island

In the middle of the nineteenth century, a large parcel of land on Staten Island's East Shore was purchased by the president of the Staten Island Savings Bank, Louis Henry Meyer.  Upon this land, Meyer built his estate, which he named Fox Hill Villa.  Many nearby places were soon named after his estate.  In fact, the surrounding community was named Fox Hills.

By the twentieth century, much of Fox Hills was made up of the Fox Hills Golf Course and the adjacent Fox Hills Base Hospital.  Once these sites disappeared, the area began to be developed for residential use.  In 1938, a small parcel of land there was acquired by the City of New York.  This site soon came to be known as Fox Hill Playground.

In 1993, the park was transferred over to the New York…

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Egbert Triangle, Port Richmond Staten Island

Staten Island is home to many green spaces which hold war memorials. In the northern section of the borough, you can find Egbert Triangle, named for one of the members of the Egbert family. The Egbert family first settled on Staten Island in the seventeenth century. Over the years, many of them became prominent members of Staten Island's society. In fact, there was even a neighborhood named after them near the center of Staten Island-Egbertville which is commonly referred to as New Dorp Heights.

One of the members of this prominent family was Arthur Stanley Egbert, who was once a conductor of the Richmond Light and Rail Road Company. After the First World War began, Egbert became a Seaman apprentice for the United States Navy, a position that…

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Northerleigh Park, Westerleigh Staten Island

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, the neighborhood of Westerleigh was known as Prohibition Park.  At the time, the site housed many recreational activities for members of the temperance movement, so it's no surprise that once the neighborhood began to be developed, a few parks were created.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the National Prohibition Campground Association donated and sold several acres of land to the City of New York.  In 1907, three acres of land were purchased by the city.  For over half of a century, nothing was done to the three acres of woodlands.

In 1963, the site was assigned to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.  Shortly after, a baseball field began to be created on the site by the…

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South Beach Wetlands, South Beach Staten Island

To the west of Father Capodanno Boulevard and located right next to Ocean Breeze Park, there is a small wetland that is about 5 acres in size called South Beach Wetlands. This wetland became a part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in December of 1999 and was named after the neighborhood in which it is located, South Beach.

Although this may not be a regular park that you would take your children to, it is still an important part of Staten Island. The South Beach Wetlands is one of the many parks on Staten Island that is more of a nature preserve, even though it may not be classified as one of the Forever Wild Nature Preserves. This park has been left to its own devices and is made up of marshy areas--as well as forest and…

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Ocean Breeze Park, South Beach Staten Island

On the eastern shore of Staten Island's Mid-Island section, you can find Ocean Breeze Park. This park is right across the street from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk and behind Staten Island University Hospital North and the South Beach Psychiatric Center. Ocean Breeze Park is an approximately 110-acre nature preserve that has been undergoing some changes.

Before the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation took over this land to make it a park, the land was a part of Staten Island University Hospital. Prior to becoming a park and as a park today, the land is filled with sand dunes, wetlands, shrub forests, and grassland areas. With Ocean Breeze Park containing all of these natural habitats, the New York City Department of Parks and…

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Terrace Playground, Grymes Hill Staten Island

P.S. 35 was established in 1907 in the neighborhood of Stapleton. By the middle of the twentieth century, the school was moved to 60 Foote Avenue, in the Grymes Hill neighborhood. Around that time, an adjacent plot of land was acquired by New York City. This less-than-two-acres parcel was transferred to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as the New York City Board of Education.

In 1953, when the site had opened as a park, it was called P.S. 35 Playground. At that time, the park was given basketball courts, handball courts, play equipment, and shuffleboard areas. A plaque was erected in the park in 1997 to commemorate the opening of the park.

Since P.S. 35 is known as the Clove Valley School, the adjacent playground's name…

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