Rossville Fire of 1963
Encyclopedia
The Rossville Fire of 1963 was a fire in the neighborhood of Rossville, Staten Island
Rossville, Staten Island
Rossville is the name of a neighborhood of Staten Island, New York, located to the west of Prince's Bay, on the island's South Shore.-Early History of the Area:...

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On April 20, 1963, Rossville was the scene of the worst of three devastating brush fires to strike Staten Island; the three fires collectively destroyed more than 100 homes, rendering over 500 persons homeless and causing in excess of $2 million in damage. Rossville's character would be transformed permanently by the fire as it turned out, for once the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the larger lower bay....

was opened 19 months later, it and many other Staten Island neighborhoods would witness massive new home construction (with many of the homes in Rossville which had been spared by the fire actually being demolished to make way for new, often larger ones).
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