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Willowbrook, Staten Island facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Willowbrook is a neighborhood in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is located in the region of the island usually referred to as Mid-Island, immediately to the south of Port Richmond, to the west of Meiers Corners and Westerleigh, to the north of New Springville, and to the east of Bulls Head.

History

Named for a brook that flowed through the area's farmland, Willowbrook once lay at the heart of the island's agricultural zone, and first saw other significant development when a military hospital opened there during World War II.

The neighborhood was also drastically transformed with the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in November 1964. Soon after this, the farms were sold and broken up, and residential housing was built on the property. Many of the owners of the newly built homes were Jewish families, and as a result, Willowbrook became the center of the island's Orthodox Jewish community, which from the turn of the 20th century until the late 1960s and early 1970s was primarily centered in Staten Island's North Shore neighborhood of Tompkinsville along with most of Staten Island's then-small Jewish population.

Demographics

Young Israel of Staten Island — an Orthodox synagogue that is the island's largest Jewish house of worship — is located in Willowbrook, as are a number of smaller Orthodox congregations, including Hasidic and Sephardic congregations. Although Willowbrook is home to non-Orthodox Jews as well, there are no non-Orthodox synagogues in the community. There are also many Italian-Americans as well as East Asians, African Americans, and South Asians.

Education

School

Willowbrook is the location of P.S. 54, an elementary school administered by the New York City Department of Education.

Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL)'s Todt Hill-Westerleigh branch is located at 2550 Victory Boulevard on the border between Willowbrook and Westerleigh. The three-story branch opened in 1991.

Transportation

Willowbrook is served by the S57, S61, S62, S91, S92, S93 local buses and the SIM3, SIM4C, SIM31, SIM32, SIM33, SIM34 express buses.

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