John Irving

John Irving was born on April 17th, 1844, in County Derry, Ireland. In his younger years, he participated in night schools in his hometown. When he was twelve years old, he had an opportunity to be apprenticed to a weaver's trade. When he was seventeen years old, he embarked in the manufacture of fine linen.

In 1866, Irving emigrated and settled in Paterson, New Jersey. He became an employee of R & H Adams & Co. Later, he had a factory in Brooklyn established. The factory's production was making muslin books for the dry goods trade. This was an achievement and John Irving was the first to introduce this in the country.

In 1881, Irving had purchased a valuable property in New Brighton, Staten Island. He had also begun manufacture of India linens, Victoria lawns, tarlatans, mohair, and silk. During this time, there was very little competition involving these fabrics, allowing Irving to be quite successful in it. All the production and finds were placed in large cities in the United States.   

On April 15th, 1864, he married to Eliza, daughter of Robert McElroy of County Derry, Ireland. In total, they had four children. Their names were William, Margaret, John and George W.

Business was very important to Irving and was his main focus which is why he went into a joint stock company establishing a little enterprise known as "The American Linoleum Manufacturing Company" on the west shore of Staten Island. The location was originally known as Long Neck in the 1600s but was renamed to Linoleumville in 1862 to honor the factory that would employ two-thirds of the residents in that area. The naming of the company and town was decided to be named after the flooring covering the factory.

The building was built in 1873. In January of 1875, the manufactured goods were placed on the market. The company itself was extremely successful by having enough horsepower and about two hundred workmen who’ve worked day and night.  

However, when the factory closed down in 1928. By 1930, the town demanded a name change. Eventually, after a vote taking place, the town was renamed to Travisville, after a local landowner. Today, we call this neighborhood Travis.

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