This is the first in a series of of posts highlighting some of the fascinating stories from the historical Staten Island newspapers now being digitized and uploaded to the web.  Find out more about this project at www.nypl.org/sinewspapers .

The story of Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794–January 4, 1877), commonly known as Commodore Vanderbilt, is one of great riches. He was the richest man in America during his life and generally ranks No. 2 or No. 3 on the list of all-time richest Americans, behind John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.  

Vanderbilt's transportation empire began with his Staten Island ferry service and expanded to giant shipping lines that fueled the California Gold Rush through their fast and inexpensive runs to the West Coast.  Later he acquired huge stretches of railroad and consolidated them into efficient, though monopolistic, railroad networks.  His N.Y. Central System connected New York, Boston, Chicago and St. Louis.

And this magnate was born on Staten Island–but where, exactly?  

Most modern sources give the general answer of Port Richmond, a neighborhood on the island's North Shore. When Cornelius was a child, the Vanderbilts moved to Stapleton and that house is well-documented in multiple sources. But little is recorded about the street or house where he may have been born.  

Just after the turn of the 20th century however, The Richmond County Advance identified a specific house as the birthplace of Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The reporter cited none other than Cornelius Vanderbilt himself.  According to the story, the Commodore identified the house for his second wife, Mrs. Frank Vanderbilt, who for many years occupied the Vanderbilt mansion in Stapleton, on the site of the old Paramount Theater. Mrs. Vanderbilt then commissioned local photographer Isaac Almstaedt to document her husband's birthplace.  Almstaedt was a news photographer—and, along with operating his private photography studio, he may well have passed along the story to the Advance.

The identification of the Commodore's birthplace  first appeared on January 11, 1902.

Commodore Vanderbilt was born in the house now known as the Harrison Homestead, at No. 125 Richmond Avenue, Port Richmond, where his parents were temporarily living on May 27, 1794.  

The building was a neat farm-house of two stories, and of fair dimensions.  It was afterward occupied and owned for many years by Joshua Mersereau.  At his death his real estate was divided among his heirs.  This portion fell to his son Cornelius Mersereau, who sold it to Dr. John T. Harrison, who improved it by the addition of a tasteful wing on each side, retaining the original structure in the center, and changing the plan somewhat on the first floor. Dr. Harrison's will bequeathed the property to his widow and her daughter, who are the present holders.  

Vanderbilt was baptized on December 16, 1794 by the Rev James Burkley pastor of the Moravian Church at New Dorp at the house of John Harrison.  John Housemen, John Garretson, and Phebe van der Bilt were sponsors.  

The Commodore also courted his first wife in the  "Northfield Hotel," a stone house which stood on an elevation between what is now Starin's Dock at Port Richmond and Ballentine's stables.  So-called "Aunt Nellie " Johnson was the proprietor of the hotel, and Sophy, her niece, dwelt with her and assisted in doing the work of the household.  Sophy was comely, healthy, and strong and the friendship—Cornelius visited her house and she went with him to the balls and country frolics which made life fun in those days—and it produced the usual result. The twain were made one, and a large family of children followed.

Many years after, when the poor boy had come to manhood and riches, he purchased the "Northfield Hotel" property, and pulled down the house he should have preserved for its pleasing memories, dug away the bank, threw the soil into the river and built a steam-boat landing in front of it, and ran his boats to and from the great city.  There was no poetry in the composition of Cornelius and the stones and timbers of the ancient house were just stones and timbers to him, fit only to make so many more square feet to bear the weight of the soil which was taken from the bank ...

A follow-up story added some details and also a photograph of the actual house on December 22, 1906.

The reporter intended a picture of the Vanderbilt home in Port Richmond to run with his story on December 22 but it did not run until he published a follow-up article  on December 29, 1906.

Here's a house on [Port] Richmond Avenue, with a very similar footprint to the one described in the Richmond County Advance.  Is this house, near Harrison Avenue, the old "Harrison Homestead," birthplace of Cornelius Vanderbilt?

Full map at http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/916c1f41-bcb2-ed22-e040-e00a180606c3

Overlaying the 1884 map in the NYPL Map Warper, shows the actual location to be at the  northeast corner of Port Richmond Avenue and Castleton Avenue.  This corresponds to about 203 to 209 Port Richmond Avenue and is currently occupied by Port Richmond Discount, Acapulco Plaza Grocery, HDR Dental and No. 1  Chinese Kitchen.

Cornelius Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt birthplace today (Google Street View image)

I spent many lunch hours at the No.1 Chinese Kitchen when I worked at the Port Richmond Branch Library in the 1990's.  The food is standard Chinese takeout fare.  Cornelius Vanderbilt is largely forgotten on the street of his birth.  It is fitting for the unsentimental man who knocked down the hotel where he courted his first wife. After all, his second wife, not the Commodore himself,  chose to create the only record his birthplace.

At this street corner, lies the exact spot where the tale of one of America's richest men, a shipping and railroad magnate, began.  He forged America, through his efficiency, innovation, and ruthlessness. He is commemorated everywhere from Grand Central Terminal to Vanderbilt University to his giant mausoleum at New Dorp. There is little interest in memorializing him further.  But thanks to Isaac Almstaedt and the Richmond County Advance  knowledge of his birthplace can now be passed on—without even a  "Commodore Vanderbilt's Chicken" on the menu at the No. 1 Chinese Kitchen. 

Staten Island is filled with these fascinating, but little known, places and stories: More to come.

The Richmond County Advance was digitized  uploaded to the web from the collections of Historic Richmond Town.  Funding for the digitization of Staten Island newspapers was provided through The New York Public Library's Innovation Project, which is made possible by a generous grant from the Charles H. Revson Foundation.