Huguenot, Staten Island

Huguenot is the name of a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, New York, USA.

Originally named Bloomingview, it's present name is derived from the Huguenots, led by Daniel Perrin, who settled in the area during the late 17th century and early 18th centuries to escape religious persecution.

History

The community gained a station along the Staten Island Railway soon after the line was extended to Tottenville in 1860. This station was given the name Huguenot Park, even though no park was actually located nearby; by the 1970s the word "Park" had been dropped, but later a branch of the New York Public Library was opened one block west of the station, replacing what was once the smallest New York Public Library building just east of the station (still standing), and named the Huguenot Park Branch, perhaps in honor of the station's former name.

Long noted for the beauty of its woodlands, Huguenot began to be transformed soon after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, leading to a large number of Brooklyn residents relocating to Staten Island. The first visible sign of this transformation, however, came not in the form of new home construction, but rather with the building of the new Tottenville High School campus, which opened in 1972 in Huguenot (the existing high school buildings in Tottenville were converted into a junior high school).Fact|date=February 2007

Current

Public amenities have not kept up with the explosive pace of population growth in Huguenot and the surrounding neighborhoods that has taken place from the 1970s onwardFact|date=February 2007, as public transportation and sewer lines have not been upgraded fast enough to meet the increasing demand.Fact|date=February 2007

Road conditions are also a problem,Fact|date=February 2007 especially potholes which can cause damage to automobiles, and there are few organized activities for adolescents, a fact often blamed for the considerable amount of vandalism that occurs there.Fact|date=February 2007

However, the region is one of the richest on Staten Island, and one of the nicest maintainedd areas of neighborhoods. It is highly prosperous based on per capita income and similar economic measures.

In recent years it has become increasingly customary to refer to the western part of Huguenot as a separate neighborhood called Woodrow.