Pleasant Plains, Staten Island: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Mount Loretto PP jeh.JPG|thumb|View looking north across [[Mount Loretto Unique Area]] with church in distance (July 2008).]]

Situated on the island's [[South Shore, Staten Island|South Shore]], Pleasant Plains has a population of 5,000 according to the 2000 census. It was named by officials of the Staten Island Railroad Corporation, the original owners of what is now known as the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)|MTA]] [[Staten Island Railway]]. When the railroad line was extended to [[Tottenville, Staten Island|Tottenville]] in 1860, a station crossing Amboy Road approximately two miles north of Tottenville was named Pleasant Plains. Eventually, the name "Pleasant Plains" was applied to the community which soon sprung up around the station.

 

In 1882, a {{convert|120|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm southeast of the railroad station was purchased from the Bennett family by the Reverend [[John Christopher Drumgoole]] founder of the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin. He started the mission in [[Manhattan]] in 1871 originally to aid homeless newsboys. Subsequent parcels were added for a combined area of {{convert|400|acre|km2}}. The formal name became The Mission of The Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto but was and still is referred to solely as "Mt. Loretto". An [[orphanage]] for boys and a working farm was established on the site. At one time it was the largest farm in New York State.