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The National Lighthouse Museum is a museum in St. George, Staten Island, New York City, United States, that is dedicated to the history of lighthouses and their keepers. It officially opened in 2015. The museum is located within the former Foundry Building of the United States Lighthouse Service General Depot, later the Staten Island Coast Guard Station.
The National Lighthouse Museum concept was born out of the need to educate and preserve the navigational history of lighthouses, which is being lost due to modern technology such as GPS, Solar panels, etc. [1] As these structures become obsolete, their desirable locations drew developers eager to build on the magnificent sites. In the 1940s, the Shinnecock Light, on the south shore of Long Island, became unstable and U.S. Coast Guard safety concerns initiated the process of having it removed. Despite the desire of local residents to preserve the lighthouse, the iconic structure was demolished and eventually replaced by a golf course. A similar fate seemed inevitable for the famous Fire Island Light in the 1990s, when it too was targeted for destruction and development. The local community came to the rescue and the Fire Island Light Preservation Society saved the structure.
The threat of destruction of many of these fabled landmarks created a groundswell of public support for the preservation of lighthouses. The rescue of the Fire Island Light, and similar efforts around the country, inspired the creation of an American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee, whose purpose was to find a site for a prestigious national museum that would be entrusted to preserve such history for generations to come.
In 1998, the ALCC issued a nationwide Request for Proposals (RFP) for a National Lighthouse Center and Museum. Seventeen proposals were submitted from groups around the United States. After a series of presentations and deliberations, the former site of the St. George Coast Guard Station, a National Register of Historic Places listing and a city landmark, was selected as the winner. It was also the former location of the New York Marine Hospital and the Staten Island Quarantine War. [2] [3]
The site was selected because of its historic significance and because of its central location in one of the busiest harbors in the country. The site's location adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal was also a primary consideration in the selection, as the ferry sees millions of tourists every year. The opportunity to have a national level museum on Staten Island and the cultural and economic opportunities of luring tourists off the Staten Island Ferry inspired the support of New York Governor George Pataki, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, who provided over $7 million to begin the renovation of the site.
The National Lighthouse Center and Museum was issued its Museum Charter by the New York State Board of Regents on November 9, 2001. However, it had trouble raising funds: by 2000, it had raised only 2% of the $5 million necessary to start operations, despite being in the second year of a five-year fundraising drive. As a result, the museum opening was subsequently postponed from 2001 to 2003. [4] The museum board was dissolved in 2009, with officials citing slow fundraising activity following the September 11 attacks in 2001, as well as the budget rising to $15 million. By that time, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) had spent $8 million on stabilizing the structures at the Coast Guard Station. [5] In 2013, John Catsimatidis donated $105,000 toward the museum. [6] The same year, the museum board was reconvened, and the EDC asked the board to procure $350,000 in exchange for the EDC renting out the foundry for the museum's use for $1 per year. [7] The museum was finally opened in 2015 within the former foundry. [1]
The mission of the museum is:[ citation needed ]
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 and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 495,747 in the 2020 Census, Staten Island is the least populated borough but the third largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km2).
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs 5.2 miles (8.4 km) through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry boats making the trip in about 25 minutes. The ferry operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with boats leaving every 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes at other times. It is the only direct mass-transit connection between the two boroughs. Historically, the Staten Island Ferry has charged a relatively low fare compared to other modes of transit in the area; and since 1997, the route has been fare-free. The Staten Island Ferry is one of several ferry systems in the New York City area and is operated separately from systems such as NYC Ferry and NY Waterway.
The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and operated by the New York City Transit Authority Department of Subways. SIR operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing local service between St. George and Tottenville, along the east side of the island. There is currently only one line on the island, and there is no direct rail link between the SIR and the New York City Subway system, but SIR riders do receive a free transfer to New York City Transit bus and subway lines, and the line is included on official New York City Subway maps. Commuters on the railway typically use the Staten Island Ferry to reach Manhattan. The line is accessible from within the Ferry Terminal, and most of its trains are timed to connect with the ferry. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 2,783,800, or about 12,700 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2022.
St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, along the waterfront where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of the administrative center for the borough and for the coterminous Richmond County. The St. George Terminal, serving the Staten Island Ferry and the Staten Island Railway, is also located here. St. George is bordered on the south by the neighborhood of Tompkinsville and on the west by the neighborhood of New Brighton.
Sailors' Snug Harbor, also known as Sailors Snug Harbor and informally as Snug Harbor, is a collection of architecturally significant 19th-century buildings on Staten Island, New York City. The buildings are set in an 83-acre (34 ha) park along the Kill Van Kull in New Brighton, on the North Shore of Staten Island. Some of the buildings and the grounds are used by arts organizations under the umbrella of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden.
The Staten Island University Hospital, Community Park is a baseball stadium located on the north-eastern tip of Staten Island. The ballpark is the home of the Staten Island FerryHawks, a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and is largest stadium in the league by capacity at 7,171. From 2001 to 2020, it hosted the Staten Island Yankees, the New York–Penn League affiliate of the New York Yankees. The ballpark was also previously home to the Wagner College Seahawks and the city's Pro Cricket team in 2004. In addition, local high schools have the chance to play at least one game at SIUH Community Park.
Whitehall Street is a street in the South Ferry/Financial District neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, near the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The street begins at Bowling Green to the north, where it is a continuation of the southern end of Broadway. Whitehall Street stretches four blocks to the southern end of FDR Drive, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal, on landfill beyond the site of Peter Stuyvesant's 17th-century house.
The Robbins Reef Light Station is a sparkplug lighthouse located off Constable Hook in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, along the west side of Main Channel, Upper New York Bay. The tower and integral keepers quarters were built in 1883. It replaced an octagonal granite tower built in 1839. The U.S. Coast Guard owned and operated the light station until the 2000s.
St. George Terminal is a ferry, railway, bus, and park and ride transit center in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City. It is located at the intersection of Richmond Terrace and Bay Street, near Staten Island Borough Hall, Richmond County Bank Ballpark and Richmond County Supreme Court. St. George is one of the few remaining rail-boat connections in the United States.
The Tottenville station is a Staten Island Railway rapid transit station in the neighborhood of Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. Located near Main Street and Arthur Kill Road, it is the southern terminus on the main line and the southernmost railway station in both New York City and New York State.
The Clifton station is a Staten Island Railway station in the neighborhood of Clifton, Staten Island, New York. This station was the original terminal of the Staten Island Railway from 1860 until 1886. The station was known as Vanderbilt's Landing, and was used as a transfer point for passengers going to Manhattan via ferries to South Ferry.
The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground level, as well as a hotel and event space on the upper stories. The ground story contains three ferry slips that are used for excursion trips and ferries to Governors Island, as well as commuter trips to Port Liberté, Jersey City. The upper stories contain the Cipriani South Street event space, operated by Cipriani S.A., and a 47-room hotel called Casa Cipriani.
The Whitehall Terminal is a ferry terminal in the South Ferry section of Lower Manhattan, New York City, at the corner of South Street and Whitehall Street. It is used by the Staten Island Ferry, which connects the island boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. The Whitehall Terminal is one of the ferry's two terminals, the other being St. George Terminal on Staten Island.
St. George Coast Guard Station, or the Staten Island Coast Guard Station, located adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry St. George Terminal, is a complex of 22 historic buildings and was best known for the invention and manufacturing of lighthouse equipment. The Office Building and U.S. Light-House Depot Complex, designed by Alfred B. Mullet and completed in 1865, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and comprise an official New York City Landmark.
Empire Outlets New York City is a 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) retail complex in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City. Construction on Empire Outlets started in 2015, and the complex opened on May 15, 2019. Tentative plans called for 100 stores, but there is only space for about 70 stores, less than half of which are currently occupied. It is the first outlet mall in New York City. The mall is located next to the St. George Terminal, a major ferry, train, and bus hub.
The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is the only rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island and is operated by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, a unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The railway was historically considered a standard railroad line, but today only the western portion of the North Shore Branch, which is disconnected from the rest of the SIR, is used by freight and is connected to the national railway system.
The Ollis-class ferries are a trio of passenger ferries on the Staten Island Ferry, the first of which entered service in 2022. The class is named after US Army Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, a Staten Islander who was killed in action during the War in Afghanistan in 2013.
Max N. Rose is an American military officer and politician who served as a United States Representative from New York for a single term from 2019 to 2021. A moderate Democrat, he served on the committees for Homeland Security and Veteran's Affairs and played a key role in bringing a stalled bill for a fund for victims of the September 11 attacks to a vote in the United States House of Representatives. Rose served in the Biden administration as senior advisor to the United States Secretary of Defense for COVID-19 from January 2021 to July 2021.
The Staten Island Quarantine War was a series of attacks on the New York Marine Hospital in Staten Island—known as "the Quarantine" and at that time the largest quarantine facility in the United States—on September 1 and 2, 1858. The attacks, perpetrated mainly by residents of Staten Island, which had not yet joined New York City, were a result of longstanding local opposition to several quarantine facilities on the island's East Shore. During the attacks, arsonists set a large fire that completely destroyed the hospital compound. At trial, the leaders of the attack successfully argued that they had destroyed the Quarantine in self-defense. Though there were no deaths as a direct result of the attacks, the conflict serves as an important historical case study of the use of quarantines as a first response.
The Special Hillsides Preservation District was created in 1987 by the City of New York to preserve the hilly terrains of the North Shore of Staten Island. The district maintains different planning rules to the rest of the City to account for the geological and bio diversity of the area. The district's goals are to reduce hillside erosion, landslides, and excessive storm-water runoff by conserving vegetation and protecting natural terrain; preserve hillsides with unique aesthetic value; protect areas of outstanding natural beauty; and protect neighborhood character.