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The 16th century Florentine explorer Giovanni Da Verrazano is commonly considered to be father of Staten Island (Richmond County) because he sailed into New York Harbor in 1524 and landed on the Island. In 1687 the Duke of York offered the island as a prize in a sailing competition which the team from Manhattan won. Since that time, Manhattan has claimed the island as its own. Until 1713, when the first public ferry was started to the island, there was no way to get back and forth unless you had a boat. Finally, in 1964 the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was built by Othmar Amman. The bridge made it relatively easy to travel back and forth.
"From the meeting of Lord Howe, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin to the British occupation or the solid defense of the harbor during the Civil War, Staten Island is a place steeped in the annals of history. Great men have inhabited the island. Vanderbilt grew up on the island and Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson both spent much time on the island. They praised the beauty of the landscape, calling Staten Island 'a little piece of the country in the city'." (thanks to James Finn for this Staten Island info)