James S. "Uncle Jim" Remsen (1811, Queens Village, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 – 1887) was a landowner and developer of Rockaway Beach, Queens

Rockaway Beach, Queens

Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the South Shore of Long Island. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west...

 as a major amusement district in the 19th century. He is also known for his development of Canarsie and East New York in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

.

Remsen managed to acquire title to a large portion of the peninsula, and was known to promulgate a railroad project linking the Canarsie and East New York neighborhoods, which provided ferry passengers to Rockaway Beach. He took William Wainwright

William Wainwright (land developer)

William Wainwright was a real-estate developer who was largely responsible in the late 19th and early 20th century for the transformation of Rockaway Beach, New York into a major resort and amusement area....

, who was to become a prominent Rockaway developer in his own right, as a partner in 1876.

External links

• http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=12915

Other sources

Vincent F. Seyfried

Vincent F. Seyfried

Vincent F. Seyfried is a highly prolific historian of Long Island. His magnum opus is the seven-volume The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, published over a period of over two decades. Seyfried is also known for histories of Queens neighborhoods as well as towns and villages further...

, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part Five, published by the author, Garden City, Long Island, 1966.