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Welcome to Staten Islands Past!
Best known for its vast
parks and beach areas, Staten Island is a place where many generations of people have
come to make a good life for their families. This borough has always been known for its family values and slower
pace of living. Yet, we are just a boat ride away from the most exciting place in the world... "Manhattan" This is a
borough, rich in history and I hope to share some of that history with fellow native Islanders and
welcome all who have made Staten Island their home. Enjoy your tour, in text and photo and please visit often, as I
try to update on a regular basis. Any photos or memories you can share will just make this website better for all.
The Original Staten Island Hospital
(Smith's Infirmary)
(donated by the family)The Old Mill
"The
Eating Place of Staten Island"
Clove Road & Hylan Blvd
In addition to the restaurant, my Dad built a miniature golf course at the intersection
of Clove Road and Hylan Boulevard circa 1930
in partnership with Tad Wright. He built a tearoom on the golf course that was very successful for several years.
When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Dad and his new partner, Michael Berardini, built the curb service
addition,
a cocktail lounge and banquet hall, an enlarged dining room as well as a dance floor out back featuring live
bands.
R&H beer was served at the curb and at tables on the former golf course terraces.
As you may recall, the restaurant burned down in 1957 and my Dad passed away in 1958 as we were planning to
rebuild.
Sincerely,
Dick Boera
Lyndonville, Vermont
(donated by the family)
Old Mill Fire 1957
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New Dorp Railroad Crossing
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"In Days Gone By"
~ from the Staten Island Advance
( This is from a series of 200 clippings I have
that were published in the
SI Advance that I will be changing on a regular basis )
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A few words from me . . .
Its been almost 4 years since I first published this website. There have been well over
100,000 visitors so far. Many thanks to all, for the positive feedback
to my website. It has been a labor of love, though at
times I wanted to give it all up, but then I receive an email from someone who was raised in Mt. Loretto and she
thanks me for the help in finding her records from the old burnt out church, or from a lady whose husband has
Alzheimer's but remembers the photos she showed him from this website. Whenever I
wanted to give up on this website, I received much encouragement from the visitors and that kept me going. The
memories page grows more each day.
Please keep emailing me your memories of your
days on Staten Island. I promise to include them as
fast as possible. If anyone has old photos of Staten Island, I would love to include them on this website.
I really need some photos from the 1950's and the1960's
St. George Lighthouse 1890
"Historic S.I. News"
NY Times May 29, 1948
DRIVE-IN THEATRE WINS LICENSE FIGHT
"The Fabian Theatres Corporation has been granted a license by the Department of Licenses to operate a $350,000
"drive-in" open-air motion picture theatre on the east side of Richmond Avenue, Green Ridge, S.I., it was
learned yesterday. The theatre will be opened tonight".
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August 14, 1959, Friday
BRIDGE IS STARTED ACROSS NARROWS
A fifty-year-old dream of planners began
to take tangible form yesterday when ground was broken on Staten Island for a $320,000,000 link with Brooklyn.
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This is an excerpt from a book about Staten Island I hope to write . . . .
Please let me
know what you think.
Were there really three airports here? Was the Staten
Island Airport shut down each night to ensure no peril to the patrons of the drive-in theater? Did rides and
trolleys really exist on the South Beach – Midland Beach Boardwalk? Were there restaurants with a huge hot dog
on its roof or one built like a chuck wagon, a jolly trolley or a windmill. Were farms prevalent on the Island
and did wildlife roam our backyards? Can it be that there were two movie theaters on New Dorp Lane? Were the
beaches so clean that you actually paid to use them? Was fresh milk and bread actually delivered to our
front door? Can it be that in 1929, Staten Island had
its own NFL team? Did Santa really ride the Christmas Train and stop at
Jersey Street and Richmond Terrace and give out presents to the kids? Was there really a home for orphaned kids
(Mount Loretto) (where once a month my mother promised to check me into)? In the
1930's, Which of Staten Island's best known restaurateurs, bought a house
across the street from his famous restaurant and built a 200-foot tunnel between the house and the restaurant so
that he could safely carry the day's receipts from the restaurant to his home. Did such rock legends,
like the Allman Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and the Kinks really play the Island? Did
President John Kennedy, sip coffee at the St. George ferry terminal? Can you believe
that a famous Island milk company resorted to rowboats to delivery milk to areas from Oakwood to Midland Beach
during some of the worst storms to every hit that area? These were some of the many questions I had as my
interest in Staten Islands past grew. In recent years I have come across so much information about our Island’s
rich and diverse past, that I wanted to share with all Native Islanders and people who have called the Island
home. But I did not want this to be another history book on Staten Island, though; at times it may look that
way. I will not go into details about the British occupation of Staten Island for seven years, or the draft
riots during the civil war, or the burning down of the Quarantine Station. All this has been covered in much
detail and in the “Books” chapter I will point you to some great history books on our beloved Staten Island. I
will try my best to make this a lighthearted look at memories that we have of a place that was and is still
close to our hearts. I will try my best to make you say, “Wow, I remember that”. . . .
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In claiming fame, Staten Island can also claim a variety
of "Firsts"
 | S.I. was the site of the first distillery |
| First peace conference held in America |
| The first national headquarters of the Republican Party |
| Tennis in this country was first played on Staten Island, as was the first tennis tournament |
| One of the worlds first airplane factories was set up by Charles R. Witteman
around 1907 in the Little Clove on Ocean Terrace |
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