ALTHOUGH officially, New York City is the southernmost town in New York State, Tottenville, on the southern end of Staten Island, was actually the southernmost village when it was a part of Westfield Township when Staten Island was an independent county prior to 1898. The Totten family owned a large amount of property in the area in the 18th Century, and after a series of names like Unionville, Bentley Dock, and others, the village settled on a name befitting its major property holders.
Tottenville and I are old acquaintances. First impressions mean a lot — I remember the first bus ride I took to Tottenville with my parents in the mid-1960s. True to form, what I remember most is the streetlighting. The bus traveled a rutted road called Arthur Kill Road through most of the southwest end of Staten Island, and though the lengthy route has largely been “tamed” these days and lined with suburban developments and malls, back then it was a rural route illuminated by the occasional incandescent “crescent moon” fixture, and, though I didn’t notice it at the time, passed through the occasional small town like Greenridge, Rossville, and Kreischerville (which produced the light brown brick seen on so many apartment buildings in western Queens).
I began taking rides to Tottenville on my own once I reached my teens, in the early 1970s. I took the very same S74 bus along Arthur Kill Road and I remember being somewhat annoyed that the maps for this part of Staten Island were nearly always incorrect, since they showed streets that city planners and developers hoped to construct. The missing streets would not appear for years, till Staten Island’s population boom forced massive tract housing construction. I also recall the bus driver asking me if I was going all the way to Tottenville — in those days, the drivers apparently felt free to shorten the route if there were no one riding, and I was the only passenger on the bus! When I got out in Tottenville, I noted that many streets south of Amboy Road were still on maps only, and they were just woods at the time.
What you see above is the former “Bentley Dock” ferry landing at the north end of Bentley Street. The Tottenville-Perth Amboy Ferry ran for over a century, ending operations finally in 1963; in Staten Island, only the pilings remain at the foot of Bentley Street, but in Perth Amboy the old landing shed has been retained and restored, even though resumption of service is quite unlikely. The spot doubles as the south end of the Staten Island Railway, which still employs 1970s-era R44 cars (though R-211 replacements are on the way).
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The S74 Arthur Kill Road bus was labeled the R113 in the 1970s (S113 after 1978). That bus and the R103 on Hylan Blvd were two of the longest bus routes in NYC, and you could spend a good 1.5 hours riding each way from St. George to Tottenville. Even in the early 1990s, that portion of Tottenville-Richmond Valley was so quiet that the SI Rapid Transit had the Nassau and Atlantic stations listed as flag stops on weekends. You’d have to let the conductor know if you wanted to depart at those stations and he’d open one-half of one set of doors with his pass key to let you off. Conversely, you’d literally have to flag the train down on the return trip or it wouldn’t stop to pick up passengers. I learned that the hard way one quiet Sunday afternoon en route to St. George!
Is that building used for anything?
That building the the posted photo ? Probably a crew room for SIR employees. I don’t know if it’s still used as a waiting room for passengers. When it was open I remember a water cooler great for a warm summer day when riding SIRt’s old 1925 Standard Steel built cars. The wash room was open for the pause that refreshes !
Staten Island Railway crews use it since Tottenville is the terminus of the line (and the southernmost train station in New York state). It’s not open yo the public, however.
Thanks sp much for this post! i grew up in Tottenville in the 50s and 60s and it was rural, in fact the property across the street was an animal farm. We always took
the 103 bus from the ferry to Tottenville that ran on Hylan Blvd, more scenery! I remember the Perth Amboy ferry and took it a few times. I always boarded the train to the ferry at the Atlantic stop and never knew it was named for the Atlantic Terracotta Works factory located by the water nearby (which I only learned about many years later).
Remember taking the 103 in the late 70s to see the Conference House in the late ’70s for a history project.
Rode the 113 from Giffords Lane/AKR to Tottenville for four years while going to THS. But I also remember riding the 113 as “something to do”. I was probably only10 yrs
old and my mother would give me the bus fare and tell me to go for a ride. Alone!! I would get on the bus, ride it to the end of the line, and then return home. It was an adventure!! Never had a problem and I guess it taught me some independence. Maybe it’s why I was never afraid to go out on my own. When I graduated college my mother sent me off on another adventure. This time it wasn’t the 113. She gave me an airline ticket, a Eurail Pass and some spending money and took me to the airport and said ” Have Fun!!”. Off I went, alone and ready to see the world!! I was so lucky to have a mom who was a free spirit.