Skip to main content

Bloomfield, Staten Island

Bloomfield

Bloomfield is the neighborhood immediately north of Travis.  Originally named Daniell's Neck when it was first settled in the 17th century.  Later called Merrell Town after a local farmer.  The name Bloomfield first appeared on a map in 1874.

A large oil storage terminal maintained by Gulf Oil was built in the neighborhood in 1936.  The 442 acre terminal housed 82 tanks and was accessible by a service road of the West Shore Expressway which became Gulf Avenue.  The terminal closed in 1998 and the tanks were later demolished.

On February 9, 1973 a disaster occurred in Bloomfield with natural gas.  A TETCo storage tank (Texas Eastern Transmission Company) killed 40 employees.  A Hilton Hotel opened in Bloomfield in 2003.  A proposal in the 2000s to open a NASCAR racetrack in the former Gulf Oil site failed.

Bloomfield was site of the World's Largest Liquefied Gas Storage Tank. The Tank, a Property of the Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation Blew Up in February of 1973 Killing 43 Workers. | The U.S. National Archives


Popular posts from this blog

Stuyvesant Square Park, Manhattan

Stuyvesant Square (1930) New York Public Library Stuyvesant Square Park is a park spanning from East 15th Street north to East 17th Street and from Rutherford Place east to Nathan D. Perlman Place. The square is commonly thought to be named for  Peter Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherlands until it was ceded to English  control in 1664. It is actually named for Peter Gerard Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant Square (1905) Museum of the City of New York The park lies within what was the Stuyvesant family farm. The farm once stretched from the Bowery to the East River and from 3rd Street to 14th Street. The park itself is in the approximate location of the original Stuyvesant family mansion. Randel Farm Map 1818-1820 In 1836, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant and his wife Hellen Rutherford reserved four acres of the family farm and sold it to the City of New York for $5 as a public park, with the proviso that the City of New York build a fen

Kingsbridge Armory, The Bronx

Looking west at the Kingsbridge Armory on July 21, 1914. Museum of the City of New York Kingsbridge Armory Also known as the Eighth Regiment Armory located on West Kingsbridge Road. It was built in the 1910s to house the National Guard's Eighth Coastal Artillery Regiment which relocated from Manhattan in 1917.  Possibly the largest armory in the World.  After World War II, the City offered it to the United Nations as a temporary meeting place.   Looking northeast at the Kingsbridge Armory on July 18, 1914 Museum of the City of New York  In 1911, the New York State Legislature authorized construction of the Armory using an excavated area that was planned to have been the eastern basin for Jerome Park Reservoir. Some military artifacts were unearther in the area, believed to have been from nearby Revolutionary War forts including Independence and Number Five.   After the second world war, the City offered it's use to the United Nations General

Greenwich Village, Manhattan

Greenwich Village or "The Village" extends from Houston north to West 14th Street and from Broadway west to the Hudson River. Greenwich is Anglicized from the Dutch Greenwijck  (meaning pine district) into the same name as the borough of London. Greenwich Village May, 1868 New York City Department of Records Greenwich Village has many streets named for Revolutionary War heroes: Alexander McDougall New York Public Library MacDougal Street - named for Alexander McDougall (1731-1786) a leader of the Sons of Liberty, major general in the Continental Army, a NY State Senator and the first President of New York Bank. Hugh Mercer New York Public Library Mercer Street - named for Hugh Mercer (1726-1777)  a Brigadier General and close friend of George Washington. Died as a result of wounds received in the Battle of Princeton. Thompson Street - named for William Thompson (1736-1781) a Brigadier General of the War. David Wooster