Woodland Terrace

“Woodland Terrace” was a neighborhood designation in the early 1900’s. It sat “in back” of Woodland Beach, and adjacent to Midland Beach to the north (separated by Red Lane, today’s Lincoln Ave) , and the William H. & George W. Vanderbilt property (now Miller Field) to the south, and ran west just shy of today’s Hylan Blvd at the (appropriately named) Boundary Ave. It was comprised of about 50 acres and was divided into 29 blocks. The rectangular plot continued the street names of the Midland Beach neighborhood for the north-south running streets (from 3^rd street to 16^th Street – all have since been renamed) and from east to west the blocks were bisected by the Promenade, today’s Greeley Ave.

The origins of Woodland Terrace is very similar to the many real estate developments and ventures that took place in the early 1900’s. The promise of bridges to the mainland, a tunnel to be built under the Narrows, expanding train and trolley service to new areas of the Island, this being fueled by the Chamber of Commerce, politicians and the newspapers of the time. A marked increase in population meant to real estate speculators an increased demand for housing...

The “old” families of Staten Island held many large homesteads comprising thousands of acres, some dated as far back as the 1600’s. Generations of family members lived on their homesteads, until Staten Island began to “move on”.

With the arrival of the Industrial Age, folks began to work in the factories, in shops and office buildings. As the “old timers” passed away, and their children inherited the land, there was less of a need to tend to such large properties, especially if they were disinclined to farm. Real estate developers looking for choice areas hastened this transfer of land from the old families by paying the heirs a fair price, allowing the children to cash out and strike out on their own.

You can see in the above image the wonderfully large plots of land, before things started to get interesting. The Barnes family resided on Staten Island no later than 1707. A George Barnes was a Supervisor of Southfield at the turn of the 19^th century (along with neighbors Peter Cortelyou, Anthony Fountain, James Guyon, John Jacobson & John Tyson.)

The Barnes property in 1874 is listed as belonging to “Mrs. Barnes”. There is no mention of any beach names in the area, indeed much of the land in this part of the island at the time was comprised of mostly marshland, creeks, and salt meadows.

The old Barnes House on the former Barnes Ave (now Greeley Ave) at 11th Street (now Oldfield St.)

33 years later in 1907, the property is listed “George Barnes Heirs”. We can see that the Midland Railroad is in place, and the “Midland Beach Land and Improvement Company” has acquired some choice properties. Beaches have been established: Vanderbilt Beach, Woodland beach, Midland Beach & Poppy Joe’s Island Beach (Poppy Joe’s wasn’t really an “island”, rather this was term used for areas of land that had great concentrations of salt hay – so dense, they were called “islands”) The oceanfront side of Midland Beach sees new hotels, pavilions, a boardwalk and carousel. Woodland Beach, established below the proposed Seaside Blvd (now Fr. Capodanno Blvd.) features a casino and bathing pavilion.

Enter James Graham. Born to Scotch-Irish parents in Ottawa, Canada in 1862, he immigrated to Chicago and became involved in the publishing business, eventually becoming president of a prestigious company. In 1900, while visiting New York on behalf of his firm, he found the City so attractive that he sold his interest in the company and relocated to Brooklyn in 1902, where he remained for the rest of his life.

It was all the hubbub forecasting the explosive growth of Staten Island that attracted Graham to invest in real estate here. In 1911, he bought Poppy Joe’s Island and it eventually became known as Graham Beach. In 1912, Graham, along with a syndicate of “Canadian capitalists” acquired Woodland Terrace, the name based upon the already established beach and three years later bought Woodland Beach itself. The final jewel in James Graham’s real estate crown was his purchase of Midland Beach in 1925. Graham’s beaches had the reputation of being very clean and family-friendly and were enjoyed by thousands every year.

(It should be mentioned that James Graham invested in MANY properties around Staten Island – not just the beaches)

Back to the “Terrace”. The land that was home for over 200 years of Barneses was purchased from the heirs and was promptly cleared and streets mapped out as described above. J.A. Matthews was in charge of sales, and Harry W. Putnam of New Dorp was the resident director.

This is all we have on Woodland Terrace for the moment. We do not know when James Graham ended his involvement in this venture. What we can speculate on is what happened to the unsold lots – when the Depression hit (1929-1939), many real estate concerns collapsed, as very few could afford land and new homes. The City of New York confiscated land from those who were unable to pay the taxes on their properties, and they were held until the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s and sold for a tidy sum to builders and … well, if you lived on Staten Island, you know what happened then.

Eventually, the unique names and identities of the areas Graham controlled: Poppy Joe’s Island / Graham’s Beach, Woodland Beach & Woodland Terrace were discarded and assimilated into a "greater" Midland Beach. 

Additional information will be added to this Casefile as it is discovered!