Old Town, Staten Island

Welcome to Old Town sign, corner of Old Town Road and North Railroad Avenue

Old Town is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Staten Island, located on its East Shore. Old Town was established in August 1661 as part of New Netherland, and was the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island.^[1] Originally described as "Oude Dorpe" (old village in Dutch), much of its original territory makes up what is present-day South Beach, with parts of Midland Beach and Dongan Hills. The area was settled by a group of Dutch, Walloon (from what is now southern Belgium and its borders with France) and French Protestants (Huguenots) led by Walloon Pierre Billiou.

Staten Island Railway's Old Town Powerhouse at 145 Tacoma Street and North Railroad Avenue. This structure, built in the 1980s, replaced an earlier structure that had been destroyed by fire.

Present-day Old Town is typically described as the neighborhood bordered by Grasmere to the north, Dongan Hills to the south, South Beach to the east, and Concord to the west. The neighborhood is served by the Old Town station of the Staten Island Railway. The neighborhood is also served by the S78 and S79 buses on Hylan Boulevard and the S74 and S76 buses on Richmond Road, and the X1, X2, X3, and X9 express buses.

Notable places

The New York Tattoo Museum, located on Old Town Road, opened in 2010.^[2]

The neighborhood is home to the campus of Staten Island's largest circulation daily, the Staten Island Advance, a newspaper that likes to refer to Old Town as either Grasmere or Dongan Hills, even though its residents refer to it as Old Town.

The Academy of St. Dorothy, a private Roman Catholic elementary school sits on Hylan Boulevard in Old Town.

Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (formerly Carmel Richmond Nursing Home), a Roman Catholic nursing home sits on Old Town Road. The home was established by the sisters of the Carmelite Order in the 1970s.

A Very Special Place, a school for developmentally disabled children was opened on Quintard Street in the late 1990s.

Notable people

James Oddo, an American politician and member of the New York City Council is a former resident of Old Town.^[3]

References

1. Staff. "HUGUENOTS WILL STAGE STATEN ISLAND FETE; Will Celebrate Today Settlement of Old Town in 1661-- Gov. Roosevelt Invited.", The New York Times, June 28, 1931. Accessed November 13, 2008.
2. Tattoo Museum Opens On Staten Island
3. James Oddo: From Old Town Road to City Hall

• Dickenson, Richard. Holden's Staten Island: The History of Richmond County. Center for Migration Studies, New York. 2002. Pg.17. ISBN 1-57703-028-1.

Coordinates: 40°35′45″N 74°05′09″W / 40.59583°N 74.08583°W