Arrochar, Staten Island facts for kids
Arrochar (pronounced like "uh-ROW-shr") is a neighborhood in the northeastern part of Staten Island in New York City, United States. It sits just inland from Fort Wadsworth and South Beach. You can find it on the east side of Hylan Boulevard, south of the Staten Island Expressway. The neighborhood of Grasmere is next to it on the west. Today, Arrochar is mostly a place with many homes and small businesses.
History of Arrochar
Before Europeans arrived in the late 1600s, the area where Arrochar is now was a camp for the Lenape people. The name "Arrochar" comes from a large estate owned by William Wallace MacFarland in the 1840s. He named it after his hometown, Arrochar in Scotland. This Scottish town was the home of the old chiefs of the Clan MacFarlane.
At the start of the 1900s, Arrochar became a popular entrance to the resort towns of South Beach and Midland Beach. The original house from the MacFarland estate is now part of St. Joseph Hill Academy. This is a Catholic school for girls. Across Landis Avenue from St. Joseph Hill Academy was St. John Villa Academy, another Catholic high school for girls, which is now closed.
Throughout the 1900s, Arrochar grew into a residential neighborhood for many different groups of people. Italian-Americans were a very large group among them. Today, many Italian families still live in Arrochar, and there is also a growing Chinese-American community.
Education in Arrochar
Students in Arrochar attend P.S. 39, which is an elementary school. St. Joseph Hill Academy also serves the area, offering both elementary and high school education.
Transportation in Arrochar
Arrochar once had its own train station called Arrochar Station. It was part of the South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway and was located at Major Avenue.
However, this train station closed down. The Staten Island Railway stopped passenger service on the South Beach Branch on March 31, 1953. This happened because city-operated buses offered a lot of competition. The old train tracks of the South Beach line have since been removed. Now, homes stand where the tracks used to be.
Because Arrochar is close to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, it has many bus options. Several express buses, including the SIM1, SIM5, SIM6, SIM7, SIM10, travel to and from Manhattan. Buses like the S53, S79 SBS, S93 connect Arrochar to Brooklyn. There are also local buses, such as the S51, S52, S78, S81, that travel within Staten Island.
