Graniteville, Staten Island : NYC Tourist Guide

Graniteville

Graniteville is the name of a neighborhood in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of the USA's largest city, New York.

Originally named Fayetteville, granite quarries were opened in the area circa 1850, leading to the community's name being changed first to Granite Village, then Graniteville.

Largely rural well into the 20th century, Graniteville was the scene of a notable fire in March of 1942, when an explosion at the Consolidated Fireworks Company on Richmond Avenue claimed the lives of five employees.

Bisected from east to west by the Staten Island Expressway and with New York State Route 440 forming its eastern boundary, Graniteville's most notable landmark is Baron Hirsch Cemetery, an 80 acre (324,000 m²) Jewish cemetery founded in the late 1800s and still in active use; in August of 2001 this cemetery became the focus of a local health-related story when it was one of six locations on the island where mosquitos carrying the West Nile virus were discovered.

Residential development in the area burgeoned soon after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in November of 1964, and today Graniteville stands at the north end of a busy commercial strip along Richmond Avenue; this strip, which extends to the vicinity of the Staten Island Mall approximately 4 miles (6 km) away, is the scene of some of the heaviest automotive traffic on Staten Island.