Richmondtown is a neighborhood in the Mid-Island section of

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is bounded by

Arthur Kill Road Arthur Kill Road is a major northeast-southwest artery along the South- West Shore of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is long, and runs through the neighborhoods of Tottenville, Richmond Valley, Charleston, Rossville, Woodrow ...

on the northwest, Richmond Road on the north, Amboy Road on the east and southeast, and the United Hebrew and Ocean View cemeteries on the southwest.

Name

Originally known as Coccles Town (sometimes misreckoned as Cuckolds Town) because of the abundance of

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

and clam shells found in the waters of the nearby

Fresh Kills Fresh Kills (from the Middle Dutch word '' kille'', meaning "riverbed" or "water channel") is a stream and freshwater estuary in the western portion of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, forme ...

, Richmondtown gained its present name in 1728 when the village now preserved as

Historic Richmond Town Historic Richmond Town is an authentic town and farm museum complex in the neighborhood of Richmondtown, Staten Island, in New York City. It is located near the geographical center of the island, at the junction of Richmond Road and Arthur Kill ...

was founded. The village became the county seat of Richmond County (with which Staten Island is coterminous) and remained as such until the emergence of

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

soon after the ferries to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

began to proliferate at the latter site near the end of the 19th century.

Location

Located at the base of Lighthouse Hill with

New Dorp New Dorp is a neighborhood on the East Shore of Staten Island, New York City, United States. New Dorp is bounded by Mill Road on the southeast, Tysens Lane on the southwest, Amboy and Richmond Roads on the northwest, and Bancroft Avenue on the n ...

and Oakwood to the east, Richmondtown has seen much new home construction since the mid-1960s, and ranks as one of the most popular destinations for families seeking to relocate to Staten Island from New York City's other boroughs, especially Brooklyn. The town is also home to one of the ten remaining Volunteer Fire Departments in New York City Richmond Engine Company 1, which operates a 2005 American LaFrance Engine purchased through a federal home security grant. The Church of St. Andrew and

Voorlezer's House The Voorlezer's House is a historic clapboard frame house in Historic Richmond Town in Staten Island, New York. It is widely believed to be the oldest known schoolhouse in what is now the United States, although the sole inhabitant to hold the ...

are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. St. Patrick's Church was declared a New York City Landmark in 1968.

Education

Library

The

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

(NYPL) operates the Richmondtown branch at 200 Clarke Avenue at Amber Street. It opened in 1996 and contains two floors: a first floor for adults and a second floor for children. In recent years, the Richmondtown Library has been updated to include a TechConnect lab offering"more than 100 technology classes, both online and in-person, at libraries throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island" free of charge.

Schools

Richmondtown is zoned to one elementary school, PS 23 The Richmondtown School. It is also zoned to middle schools: IS 2 George L. Egbert and IS 24 Myra S. Barnes.

Transportation

Richmondtown is served by the local buses and the express bus.

Notable people

Richmondtown is the birthplace of American bare-knuckle boxer

Bill Richmond Bill Richmond (5 August 1763 – 28 December 1829) was a British boxer, born into slavery in Richmondtown, New York. Although born in Colonial America, he lived for the majority of his life in England, where all his boxing contests took p ...

(August 5, 1763 – December 28, 1829) who was born a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Richmond went to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1777 where he achieved fame and fortune and spent the remainder of his life.

References

Former county seats in New York (state) Former villages in New York City Neighborhoods in Staten Island {{StatenIsland-geo-stub