NEW BRIGHTON, formerly a village (coextensive with the town of Castleton) of Richmond county, New York, U.S.A., but since Jan. 1, 1898 a part of the borough of Richmond, New York city. It is at the north-eastern end of Staten Island, about 6 m. S.W. of the borough of Manhattan. At New Brighton is the Sailors' Snug Harbour, founded under the will of Robert Richard Randall (c. 174o-1801), who in 1771 became a member of the Marine Society of New York (an organization for the relief of indigent masters of vessels and their families), and in 1790 bought from Baron Poelnitz the "Minto farm," about 21 ac. of land in what is now the Borough of Manhattan. This tract, with four lots. also in what is now Manhattan, and cash and stocks to the value of about $1o,000 Randall bequeathed to a board of trustees, directing that the income should be used "for the purpose of main taining and supporting aged, decrepit and worn-out sailors," who had served at least five years under the American flag, and that the institution established for this purpose should be called "the Sailors' Snug Harbour." The Sailors' Snug Harbour was incor
porated in 1806, and its charter was amended in 1828 to permit the building of the institution on Staten Island rather than on the Randall estate, which had already greatly increased in value. In 1833 the institution, with lands covering 16o ac., was opened in New Brighton with about so inmates. Randall's body was removed to the grounds in 1834, and in 1884 a life-size bronze statue of him, by Augustus Saint Gaudens, was placed in front of the main building. At New Brighton are also a Home for Desti tute Children of Seamen, founded in 1846 at Stapleton, Staten Island, removed to a new building on the Snug Harbour property in 1852, and the Samuel R. Smith Infirmary, founded in 186i.
See G. A. Ward, Description of New Brighton on Staten Island (1836) ; I. K. Morris, Memorial History of Staten Island (i9oo) ; and C. G. Kolff, A Short History of Staten Island (1926).