Port Richmond is a neighborhood situated on the North Shore of Staten Island, a borough of New York City. Port Richmond is bounded by Kill van Kull on the north, Clove Road on the east, Forest Avenue on the south, and the Bayonne Bridge on the west. It is adjacent to West New Brighton to the east, Westerleigh to the south, and Elm Park and Mariners Harbor to the west.
Formerly an independent village, it is one of the oldest neighborhoods on the island. In the 19th century it was an important transportation and industrial center of the island, but this role has vanished nearly completely, leaving a largely blue collar residential area bypassed by the shift of development of the island to its interior after the 1960s. The formerly bustling commercial center along Richmond Avenue (now Port Richmond Avenue) had been largely abandoned at the time, but many small businesses have opened in the area since the late 20th century.
Port Richmond is part of Staten Island Community District 1 and its ZIP Code is 10302. Port Richmond is patrolled by the 121st Precinct of the New York City Police Department.
History
Early exploration and settlement
The first white European contact with Staten Island was recorded in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano. In 1609 Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in the area and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch parliament. However, it was not until the mid-17th century that a mixed Dutch and French settlement was established at New Dorp. Settlers established a cemetery at nearby Port Richmond, which served as the burial ground for residents of northern Staten Island until 1696.Plaque at Dutch Reform Church. Viewed on 10/18/2009 The community of Port Richmond grew up around this cemetery, beginning with the Dutch Reform Church that was built there in the early 18th century. This colonnaded Church, still standing on Port Richmond Avenue was built in 1824 after a fire destroyed the original building. From those Dutch roots, Port Richmond evolved into a thriving waterfront industrial and transportation hub.Johnson, Marjorie. "Port Richmond." The Encyclopedia of New York City. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995. p. 929 The village incorporated as Port Richmond in 1866, the same year as the Staten Island villages of New Brighton and Edgewater.Morris' Memorial History of Staten Island, New York; 1898; https://archive.org/stream/statenislandname00davi/statenislandname00davi_djvu.txt
Port Richmond has had many names through the years. In the late 17th century it was known simply as The Burial Place. Subsequently, the area was alternately known as Bristol, New Bristol, Irvington, Cyrene, and Cityville. These names were proposed, but Port Richmond eventually won out in 1866. The name "Port Richmond" was given to the place by Rev. Dr. James Brownlee of the Dutch Reformed Church.
In 1700 the area was known as the "burial place" from a cemetery of the Reformed Church on Staten Island near the present Port Richmond Avenue along the waterfront. It later became a transfer point between ferries from New York City to New Brunswick, New Jersey. A ferry landing (called variously "Ryer's Landing", "Mercereau's Landing", and "Decker's Landing") was later constructed for a route linking Staten Island across the Kill Van Kull to Bergen Point (present-day Bayonne, New Jersey). The Bayonne Bridge was constructed in 1931 yet ferry service continued until 1962.
19th century
Port Richmond's location on the Kull Van Kill made it a prime ferry launch from Staten Island to New Jersey. It was a transfer port for freight and passengers traveling by boat between New York City and New Brunswick, New Jersey. This point is the part of Staten Island closest to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey and was once called Mersereau's Point, after Mersereau's Ferry. This point was also known as Lambert's, Collyer's, and Bowman's Point. It was called Lambert's Point during the Revolutionary War and later Collyer's Point. Other ferries that operated from that point were: Dacosta's, Indian, Decker's, Ryers', and Hilleker's. Ryers' and Hilleker's ferries were in competition with one another until David Mersereau bought out both companies in the late 19th century. Ferries ran continually until shortly after the Bayonne Bridge was built in 1931. The area also became the site of an important stop on a coach route between the city and Philadelphia. Port Richmond Avenue has been known over the years as Church Road, Port Richmond Plank Road, Stone Road, and Richmond Avenue. The road is a continuation of an old highway called the Morningstar Road.
Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, railway tycoon and patriarch of the Vanderbilt family, was born in the area in 1794. In 1836, former Vice President Aaron Burr died in Port Richmond at the St. James Hotel, a prominent hotel which once stood on Richmond Terrace until it was demolished.
In the early 19th century, the area was an overnight coach stop between New York City and Philadelphia. In 1836, a public park was built. In the middle 19th century, the area began to attract immigrants from Ireland and Germany. Among the industries established in the area was the only whale oil processing plant on Staten Island. It was later replaced by a linseed oil processing plant that operated until the 20th century. Other industries included lumber and coal yards, as a dye processing plant. Because oyster harvesting was a booming business along the mudflats in New York Harbor, many successful oyster boat captains built mansions on Richmond Terrace facing the Kill van Kull in the 1840s and 1850s.http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/buyers/nychome-neighborhoods-statenisland-portrichmond.html Industries along the waterfront included lumber and coal yards.
In 1883, Port Richmond was described as a model village:
In 1866, the neighborhood was incorporated as Port Richmond. In the 1880s, the Staten Island Railway constructed a North Shore branch with a stop in the village on Richmond Avenue, which had become a main shopping area of the island. In the 1870, St. Philip's Baptist Church, the oldest of the three black Baptist congregations on the Island, was formed. The church still stands at 77 Bennett Street, next to the Port Richmond Library that was built with funds from Andrew Carnegie in 1902. At the beginning of the 20th century, the neighborhood attracted large numbers of Italian, Polish, Norwegian, and Swedish immigrants. Temple Emanu-El erected its domed, Classical building in 1907.
20th century When telephone service was upgraded in New York City in December 1930, a telephone exchange bearing the designation "Port Richmond 7" was created, its territory including the neighborhood itself along with many other communities on the western and central North Shore plus the island's then-sparsely populated, rural interior. This exchange was disconnected in 1948 when a "Port Washington 7" exchange was established to serve the town by that name in Nassau County, on Long Island; the Port Richmond exchange customers were moved to exchanges to the east, such as "Saint George 7".
The neighborhood suffered a severe economic decline in the latter half of the 20th century, largely as a result of the shift of development and commercial activity to the center of the island, following the construction of the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge and Staten Island Mall. The North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway that ran through the neighborhood connecting it to St. George was mainly a freight railroad. It was owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and was briefly, in 1925 and 1926, used as a passenger service link to the ferry launch at St. George. This was suspended as the boat ride was slower than the usual B&O trip to the CNJ Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. During World War II some trains were used to move troops.Edward F. Bommer, "The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in New Jersey" 2001, 2004, http://jcrhs.org/B%26O.html This branch was closed in 1953, leaving behind a dilapidated track and Port Richmond station along Richmond (now Port Richmond) Avenue. Plans for reopening this line were studied at various times during the 1990s and early 2000s as a Staten Island light rail line.
Demographics
For census purposes, the New York City Department of City Planning classifiesPort Richmond as part of the Neighborhood Tabulation Area called Port Richmond SI0106. This designated neighborhood had 22,609 inhabitants based on data from the 2020 United States Census. This was an increase of 1,855 persons (8.9%) from the 20,754 counted in 2010. The neighborhood had a population density of 27.0 inhabitants per acre (14,500/sq mi; 5,600/km2).
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 17.6% (3,989) White (Non-Hispanic), 22.7% (5,124) Black (Non-Hispanic), 6.9% (1,567) Asian, and 3.7% (838) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 49.1% (11,091) of the population.
According to the 2020 United States Census, this area has many cultural communities of over 1,000 inhabitants. This include residents who identify as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Irish, Italian, and African American.
The largest age group was people 5-19 years old, which made up 23.1% of the residents. 70.0% of the households had at least one family present. Out of the 6,951 households, 38.4% had a married couple (18.9% with a child under 18), 7.4% had a cohabiting couple (4.2% with a child under 18), 22.3% had a single male (2.5% with a child under 18), and 31.9% had a single female (9.1% with a child under 18). 41.3% of households had children under 18. In this neighborhood, 56.0% of non-vacant housing units are renter-occupied.
The entirety of Community District 1, which comprises Port Richmond and other neighborhoods on the North Shore, had 181,484 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 79.0 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 24% are between the ages of between 0–17, 27% between 25 and 44, and 26% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 13% respectively.
As of 2017, the median household income in Community District 1 was $48,018, though the median income in Port Richmond individually was $51,135. In 2018, an estimated 21% of Port Richmond and the North Shore residents lived in poverty, compared to 17% in all of Staten Island and 20% in all of New York City. One in fourteen residents (7%) were unemployed, compared to 6% in Staten Island and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 51% in Port Richmond and the North Shore, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 49% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Port Richmond and the North Shore are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.
The Black and Latino populations are largest in the northern section of the neighborhood, near Richmond Terrace. The southeastern portion of the neighborhood (roughly south of Post Avenue & east of Port Richmond Avenue) is the section with the largest percentage of Whites (almost 50%), and is sometimes referred to as "Port Richmond Center" or "Upper Port Richmond". The 10302 zip code (which is mostly Port Richmond, but also includes part of Westerleigh) has the highest percentage of Hispanics of any zip code on Staten Island, at 41.3%. Within the Hispanic population, it is the only zip code on Staten Island where Mexicans outnumber Puerto Ricans: Mexicans make up 20% of the population of the zip code. The zip code includes parts of nearby Westerleigh, so Mexicans make up roughly 23% of the population of Port Richmond, with the presence being highest along Port Richmond Avenue, and in the northern part of the neighborhood in general.