Tottenville History
Tottenville History
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2011 1:45 PM
Nassau Smelting & Refining In 1900, the building of Nassau Smelting & Refining Company’s plant occurred on the Richmond Valley line of Tottenville. Western Electric bought the smelting works (Tottenville Copper Company) was by in 1931, another result of Depression times. In 1971, it became a metal recycling plant and renamed Nassau Recycling Corporation. Howat Ceramics As the Depression had an impact on Tottenville with the closing of Atlantic Terra Cotta and the changeover of Nassau Smelting and Refining, a few unemployed craftsmen went into business for themselves. One of the notable ones was Walter L. Howat, who had been the chef chemist at Atlantic Terra Cotta. He established a small ceramic plant near his home on Hopping Avenue in 1933, which continued in business until the mid 1960’s. Further Information: Nassau Smelting & Refining Howat Ceramics
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Wednesday, August 03, 2011 8:45 PM
Begun in 1897, Atlantic Terra Cotta was in operation until the early 1930’s when it fell victim to the Depression, as so many other businesses did. By 1906, the company was employing up to 500 people, making it one of the largest employers on Staten Island. Fondly talked about by current Tottenville residents, many credited the company for providing housing for their employees. Terra cotta was fire-resistant, lightweight cladding and construction material, which was extremely versatile and relatively inexpensive. Atlantic Terra Cotta was the primary manufacturer of architectural terra cotta ornaments used on major skyscrapers and other buildings. The reach of Atlantic Terra Cotta was way more than just Tottenville, examples being the Woolworth & Flatiron Buildings in Manhattan and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The company’s smokestack was a familiar Tottenville landmark for 80 years until 1988 with the demolition of the 135-foot structure. Photos & Information on the Internet
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Friday, July 29, 2011 1:07 AM
Lumber was very important in Tottenville in the 1800’s, used not only for homes, but also for ship construction at all the shipyards prevalent until steel replaced wood after 1900. Once more, we can see how the industries in Tottenville at the time were interdependent and gave the town a self-sufficiency with the family owned businesses. Seguine-Runyon-Styles In 1850, Samuel Hopping started a lumber company, which was to become the Tottenville Lumber Company of Runyon. In 1907, it was one of three separate businesses to consolidate as Seguine-Runyon-Styles, Inc. These were the Tottenville Lumber Company of Runyon, the coal business of Henry G. Styles, and the masonry supplies business of Joseph C. Seguine of Princes Bay. Gage’s Sandpaper Gage build Gage’s Sandpaper factory in 1866. With all that lumber, sandpaper was a necessity. When I did research on this company, I took particular delight in a little tidbit I discovered about the man. Gage’s sense of humor, combined with his pride in his sandpaper, led him to have a rebus printed on each sheet of sandpaper he produced. The rebus deciphered read, “Gage’s Lasting Respects to All.” The sandpaper factory continued with this unique sandpaper design throughout its existence. 1948 was the year that saw the factory torn down.
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 1:30 PM
Industry played a huge part in Tottenville’s history, probably the precursor to the not so distant past, when I met many original residents of Tottenville who never wanted to venture beyond Page Avenue. If it wasn’t in Tottenville, they didn’t want or need it. Back in the early 1900’s travelling was more difficult. Industry provided needs for the town right here in Tottenville through necessity. People living in Tottenville, worked in Tottenville, providing the necessities of life for the rest of Tottenville….the original “Mom & Pop” store concept, although back then it was mainly “Pop & Sons.” Disosway’s Mill Disosway’s was the only grist mill to serve Tottenville for over 200 years, begun around 1700 by Cornelius Disosway. A grist mill grounds grain, so necessary at that time. In 1786, Cornelius left the mill to his sons, Cornelius and Israel. As years went by, the name of the mill changed as the ownership changed, since most industries were family businesses named after the family that owned it. In the 1800’s it was Butler Mills. Many years later, it became Cole’s Mills. The apparent last owner, W. Weir, added a saw mill in 1870, with the subsequent name becoming Weir’s Grist & Saw Mills. Shortly after 1900, the mill was entirely razed, removing it from the Tottenville landscape and concluding a long history as a business there. Links to information: . |
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2011 12:20 AM
Begun in 1861 as a four-page weekly newspaper called the Westfield (Staten Island) Times, the newspaper later renamed the Staten Island Transcript became increasingly important in the 1890’s. The Transcript, by serving Tottenville faithfully, grew to a semi-weekly newspaper serving the entire South Shore of Staten Island with 12 to 16 pages. In 1898, the Transcript reported on such historic events as the Spanish American War, the concrete battery built at Ward’s Point, and informed its readers about the consolidation of New York City. When the Tottenville Library opened, the Transcript was there to report about the work of the Philemon Library & Historical Society. The society, first called the Philemon Club when it began in 1897, had as its primary goal the attainment of a Carnegie grant for a public library in Tottenville, They attained this grant in 1904. In 1928 its readers learned of the opening of the Outerbridge Crossing, and in 1936 read about the opening of the new, million dollar Tottenville High School. While I was writing in the late nineties for the Midland Beach Beacon, later to become the South Shore Business Alliance Tornado, I was part of an experiment to see if Tottenville readership could sustain a newspaper called the Tottenville Tornado. Unfortunately, the time was not right, and it never got beyond its initial issue. Now, however, after encouragement from other writers and editors to write a blog, the timing seems to be so much better. What I started back then in print is now growing exponentially on the Internet with this blog, and for that, I will be forever grateful. When I was researching about starting a blog I repeatedly read just to keep going, and that the comments and email subscriptions to the blog would eventually show up. Writing a blog can be a lonely activity until the interactions begin, so I greatly appreciate anything you can do to help speed up the process. If you want an email subscription, just click on that link to the left while you are thinking of it, and I look forward to your comments to grow this blog into not just something read, but into a community. Sharing the blog with your contacts on social media helps spread the word, too. Thanks.
Further Information: Staten Island Transcript extant copies of the newspaper through the .NY Public Library In addition, should you be interested in the former Staten Island Register, where I was an investigative reporter from 1997-2005, the NY Public Library can help you there, too. |
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AngieMangino: Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 3:34 PM
During the early 1900’s a huge and famous restaurant in Tottenville was on Surf Ave. Despite its name, it started not as a gambling casino. The Tottenville Casino provided music and dancing and became Tottenville Beach’s center of social activity. Do you have a favorite restaurant in Tottenville now? Share your favorite with all of us by leaving a comment. As for hotels, called the “Palaces of the Public,” Tottenville was well known during the time and offered a variety of choices. These palaces offered indoor running water, something that earned them that name. While today “indoor running water” is everywhere, back then having it was the height of luxury. In the early 1900’s, Amboy Road and Broadway (now known as Arthur Kill Road) were the only two streets paved with stone, so that’s where most of the hotels were. A few of the many hotels in Tottenville were the Aquehonga Hotel, Morton House, Old Ferry Hotel, Tottenville Ferry Hotel, Tottenville Hotel, and West End Hotel. Main Street may not have had the paved stone street, but did have proximity to the Perth Amboy Ferry, so six hotels lined that street: John Boss’s, William O’Brien’s, William Carpenter’s, Bloom’s, Porter’s, and Streeter’s.
Images on the Internet |
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Monday, July 04, 2011 5:20 PM
Barbeques….picnics…..fireworks displays….summer fun on a hot July day & night. It is great to be free to enjoy this time thanks to Congress adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, In my travels on the Web, I found the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, not the shortened version in our school textbooks, complete with list of the King’s offenses that prompted the document. They even kept the original spelling and capitalization to give a true historical feel as if reading it with Congress before signing. How awesome is that? Check out the link at the end of this blog post. OK, you say. What does this have to do with Tottenville? Does the date September 11, 1776 mean anything to you? If Tottenville interests you, it should. That is the date of the failed Peace Conference at the Conference to try to stop the Revolutionary War. And a big factor in that failure was the refusal to take back the Declaration of Independence. Representatives of the Continental Congress (John Adams, Edward Rutledge, and Benjamin Franklin) met with a representative of the King (Lord Richard Howe) at the home of Colonel Christopher Billopp (We know that as the Conference House today.) to try to end the war. As they tried to negotiate peace, they were destined to fail. The Continental Congress representatives only had the authority to work for peace through independence from England. The King’s representative had instructions that the King would never allow the colonies their freedom. War was the only way. On Saturday, September 11, 2011, the Conference House will hold a reenactment of that Peace Conference. For more information, call 718 984-6046. Soon to be released book Stop the Revolution: America in the Summer of Independence and the Conference for Peace [Hardcover] by Thomas McGuire Available for preorder on Amazon |
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Thursday, April 28, 2011 8:18 PM
Let’s continue Tottenville’s tie to the shoreline by exploring its shipyards. In his book, Tottenville, The Town the Oyster Built, Barnett Shepherd tells of the development of ship repair and shipbuilding thanks to a growing oyster industry. He speaks of Totten’s Shipyard, as well as Rutan, Butler, Sleight, Journeay and Ellis. In the late 1800’s there were eight boatyards in Tottenville with Brown the biggest shipyard, across from Ward’s Point, off Hopping Avenue. The others included Ellis, Rutan, Butler, Sleight, Nass, Tracy, and O’Boyle. After 1900, however, they declined as steel replaced wood in ship construction. World War I brought another massive expansion in shipbuilding to Tottenville, with the most notable shipyard being Cossey. Opened in 1908, this 20-acre plant was the center of Tottenville’s shipbuilding for 22 years until 1930. Its 250 workers built 1,149 boats. As Linda Cutler Hauck from the Tottenville Historical Society shared at the book talk and signing of their book, Tottenville in the Images of America series on March 26 at the Tottenville Branch Library, there is still a ship repair business on Ellis Street today run by John Garner. The book holds a picture of a tugboat under construction at A.C. Brown shipyard, as well as a picture of the last surviving yacht constructed there. The shipyard made repairs for the South Street Seaport of schooners such as the Pioneer, built in 1885 and the Lettie G. Howard, built in 1893 and was the site of restoration of the Pegasus, from the Tug Pegasus Preservation Project. At the South Street Seaport Museum’s site, http://www.seany.org/ you can see the Pioneer and the Lettie G. Howard under the tab for Ships. Learn of the Pegasus Project, complete with pictures of Pegasus in Tottenville from arrival on December 23, 2003 to restoration completion on August 12, 2005, at http://www.tugpegasus.org/shipyard.htm Don’t forget to come back here to share your comments. |
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AngieMangino: Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 1:32 PM
Much of Tottenville’s history connects to the shoreline with the Tottenville-Perth Amboy Ferry, the shipyards, and a large oyster fishing trade. Hotels abounded, and the community was a bustling small town. Do you have any memories of the Perth Amboy Ferry? First operated in June 1860 with steamboats, the first true ferryboat was the Maid of Perth, which set sail in 1867. The ferry was a profitable enterprise as an adjunct to the Staten Island Rapid Transit. Even after the Outerbridge Crossing opened in 1928, it continued as a profitable project because of its frequent and reliable service over a period of 81 years. This company’s last ferry, the Charles Galloway, left Pert Amboy for Tottenville on Oct. 16, 1948. Smaller boats provided subsequent ferry service until 1963, when this service between Staten Island and New Jersey ended. What do you think? In these days when we seek to go green and reduce our dependence on cars, would the idea of a ferry from Tottenville to New Jersey interest you? Tottenville was one of Staten Island’s first inhabited towns, once known as a place of hotels and summer homes. Over the years, Tottenville became a quiet, sometimes forgotten, residential area, affectionately known as the town with bars and churches on every corner. Now it is somewhat less quiet, complete with strip malls and at times, what seems like a traffic light on every corner, but our churches are still here, and we still have bars. What is most important, however, is that somehow with all the growth, we continue to hold tightly to the warmth and strong sense of community that has historically been, and will continue to be, our greatest strength. |
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Angie Mangino: Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:50 AM
Tottenville’s history begins in 1676 with a crown grant by James, Duke of York, to British sea captain Christopher Billop, of 932 acres of land in what is now Tottenville. With a second crown grant in 1687 to “the Manor Bentley,” his land grew to 1630 acres, covering all of Tottenville. Billop built his house, what we know as the Conference House, around 1680, giving it the name Bentley after a ship he had commanded. As for me, I discovered Tottenville in 1978 when my husband and I moved here with our two young sons, both under the age of two. Take a woman from the Bronx, bring her to an apartment on Sanford Street which did not have a sidewalk in front of it at the time, but did have the landlord’s rooster which woke her each morning with its ungodly “cock-a- doodle-doo,” and as you can imagine, I was not initially a happy camper. “What do you mean there’s no Chinese restaurant in Tottenville? No bagel store? No diner? Are those people really riding horses along Amboy Road? Where am I? Are you sure this is part of New York City?” Tottenville, along with the rest of Staten Island, indeed was part of the historic union of the five boroughs in 1898 to form New York City. You could have fooled me! However, we did have a pizza place in 1978 that not only gave me a taste of my past, but became a close tie to my personal history in Tottenville. Remember Antonio’s? I remember Joe Ventura, the owner, one day saving me from a pack of stray dogs who thought my babies might be tasty as I maneuvered their coach carriage on my way to getting pizza with the boys. I remember Joe opening his restaurant early for me on that icy winter day in 1986 as we returned from the cemetery after my mother’s funeral, immediately serving a bottle of wine to us to warm us as his gift of condolence. Most importantly, I remember him as the one who introduced me to the true spirit of Tottenville community that continues to sustain me today. If you told me in 1978 that in 1981 I would be encouraging my husband to buy our own house In Tottenville, and that in 1998 I would begin research to share Tottenville history, I wouldn’t have believed you! However, here I am, in love with this town of Tottenville. When did you discover Tottenville? |
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