New Dorp was the location of the first county seat of Richmond County. Called Stony Brook, it was located approximately where Amboy Road experiences a sharp bend between the New Dorp and Oakwood train stations. In 1667, at the end of the
Second Anglo-Dutch War, the
Dutch Republic ceded their colony of
New Netherland to
England as a condition of the
Treaty of Breda. The colony had been occupied by the English since 1664, and was re-branded as the
Province of New York when it was granted as a
proprietary colony to
James, Duke of York. The areas of New Netherland already settled by the Dutch included the primary settlement of
New Amsterdam (now renamed
New York City) located at the southern tip of
Manhattan Island, and numerous additional lands around the city and along the
Hudson River. This included
Staaten Eylandt, later
anglicized as "Staten Island", a sparsely populated island south-west of New York across
Upper New York Bay. In 1670, the local
Native Americans, mainly
Raritans and other subgroups of the
Lenape tribe, ceded all claims to Staten Island to the English in a deed to Governor
Francis Lovelace. New Dorp was founded in 1671 following the English resurveying the pre-existing Dutch settlement of (now
Old Town) and expanded the lots along the
South Shore, which were then settled primarily by Dutch families. The new lots became known as (meaning "New Village" in the
Dutch language), in contrast with (meaning "Old Village"), and later became anglicized as New Dorp. The new village developed into one of the largest and most important settlements on Staten Island, and during the
American Revolution it became a center of activity when it was occupied by
British forces in preparation to attack the
American-occupied New York City. The
Rose and Crown Tavern in New Dorp, owned by the uncle of
Cornelius Vanderbilt, temporarily served as the local British military headquarters. In the late 19th century, New Dorp became the home to members of the prominent
Vanderbilt family, many of whom are buried in the
Moravian Cemetery, the largest and oldest active cemetery on Staten Island. On January 1, 1898, New Dorp was consolidated as part of New York City along with the entirety of Staten Island as the Borough of Richmond. The Vanderbilt farm was later used by the
U.S. Army as
Miller Air Field, and in the 1970s became part of
Gateway National Recreation Area. New Dorp continued to be one of the primary settlements on Staten Island until the 1960s, when the
suburbanization of New York City began to expand into the island. The largely rural character of Staten Island was replaced with the massive development of suburban housing, causing separate towns such as New Dorp to be absorbed into New York City's
conurbation and become one of many contiguous neighborhoods. New Dorp retained its distinct character as a town, and is one of the most thriving commercial centers on the Island which in the 1960s spread along
Hylan Boulevard from New Dorp Lane and led to the construction of five
shopping centers, anchored by supermarkets and department stores, with the largest being
Hylan Plaza which opened in 1966. The
1960 New York mid-air collision, where 134 people were killed and held the highest death toll for a commercial aviation accident until 1968, occurred over New Dorp. == Government and politics ==