[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 111 (Friday, July 22, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1387-E1388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF STATEN 
                                 ISLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL G. GRIMM

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 22, 2011

  Mr. GRIMM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 350th Anniversary 
of the first settlement of Staten Island. Staten Island makes up most 
of the 13th District of New York and I am proud to call it home, and 
anyone who has ever lived on Staten Island or visited this unique place 
knows how wonderful it is. Deep in the heart of Staten Island and all 
her residents, lives an enthralling history, so rich with the American 
experience, as to rival the other boroughs of New York City and indeed 
every community across the nation.
  Since before her founding, this island has been for many a place of 
tolerance, liberty, and justice. It was a new land that promised 
religious and political freedom more than a century before the Founding 
Fathers immortalized those freedoms in the Declaration of Independence 
and the Constitution; the very same declaration that was first revealed 
to the British Troops in the American Revolution at none other than the 
Rose and Crown Tavern, which once stood at the corner of what is now 
Amboy Road and New Dorp Lane. It was here on Staten Island that His 
Majesty as well as the world first learned of the colonies' fearless 
declaration of their independence. Even before this, the first European 
settlers to set foot on this Island in 1661 had one essential thing in 
common: they were all seeking freedom from violent persecution. Dutch, 
French, and Belgian Protestants, including Peter Billiou, Staten 
Island's most prominent early settler whose house still stands in 
Historic Richmondtown, found a haven of hope and peace on this gleaming 
gem amidst the Narrows. The Island also served as a refuge for many 
other freedom fighters, most notable among them, Giuseppe Garibaldi, 
the Father of Italian Unification, who used his time as a resident of 
Rosebank to raise money and support to free the Italian people from 
imperial oppression.
  This has come to be a defining aspect of the legacy of Staten Island. 
It is this borough that has come to exemplify so proudly the promise 
emblazoned on that beautiful Lady that lights the way of the Staten 
Island Ferry and in her younger years first revealed to my grandparents 
and many of your grandparents that they had finally reached the land 
where liberty lives and thrives. In the period between and after the 
two world wars, while much of humanity wallowed under communist and 
fascist regimes, countless men and women sought refuge here on Staten 
Island. Waves of immigrants including Italians, Irish, Greeks, 
Russians, Poles, Liberians, Sri Lankans and many, many more came to 
these shores in search of a better life for themselves and their 
families. ``Give us your tired, give us your poor, give us your huddled 
masses yearning to be free'' is a call that this Island faithfully 
answered, and it has served us well--for the culture of the island has 
been shaped by the vibrant, rich, and complementing cultures of the 
many diverse groups of people who proudly call this place home.
  Three centuries ago in the early 1700's, a local schoolteacher quoted 
scripture when she remarked that Staten Island had already become a 
bustling community full of men and women from ``All the nations under 
heaven.'' It is a mark of distinction that we continue to proudly 
display, however today, we consider ourselves all citizens of the 
greatest nation.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me, and Americans from all different origins 
and backgrounds, in embracing one of the most central and meaningful 
things we all have in common, and that is the love and pride we have 
for our hometown of Staten Island. And of course, in wishing her a very 
happy 350th birthday, may she have many, many more.

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