AMONG the relatively humdrum street name in West Brighton, just east of Port Richmond, named for long-ago property owners, one name sticks out: Alaska Street, which runs from Richmond Terrace south to Castleton Avenue generally a block west of Broadway. My thinking ws that since winters in NYC were generally colder over a century ago, maybe that had something to it. However, the street is actually named for amateur baseball team.
I just rediscovered the Staten Island Historian website, which maintains a treasure trove of its decades of newsletters, including the January 1959 issue, which has an article, “The Origin of Street Names in Old West Brighton.” Discussing Alaska Street, it mentions that in the 1890s, a local family, the Mannings, established the Alaska Baseball Team, so named for the Klondike Gold Rush. The team played on Alaska Field, laid out atop the filled-in Factory Pond, one of the many kettle ponds in the area.
Further south in Staten Island there are a number of streets with an Alaskan theme, in Heartland Village, developed in the 1960s north of what became the Staten Island Mall. Here you will find Klondike, Nome, and Yukon (Alaska-adjacent) Avenues, as well as Platinum (the rare and costly ore was discovered in the 50th State.) There was also an Alaska Place on Forest Hill Road at the western end of Latourette Park. I haven’t been able to ascertain the reasons behind these Alaskan-themed streets, though.
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12/15/25