Since I was bored, the lobbying effort to Albany being canceled and all. I figured we’d take a walk through some history. Staten island was the last of the five incorporated boroughs in NYC and didn’t become one until 1898. The native population was so resistant to change they kept most of their original infrastructure well into the 1930s.
The original County Court seen here is now a visitors center. The county clerk’s and surrogate’s building is now a museum and shop.
Staten Island prior to incorporation had a provincial system much similar to New Jersey, in which one overarching county government, known as a seat, oversaw smaller provincial type governments. Meaning Richmond Town was not only the seat of the county government. But had its own town hall with local offices as well. As did many of the other provincial areas. Such as New Brighton which ran the towns on the North Shore facing Manhattan. Don’t ya love history.
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