Report of Committee on Historical Tablet 17 



The letter of the secretary of the Staten Island Rapid Transit 

 Railway Co., dated August 22, 1910, previously referred to, stated 

 that construction of the Arthur Kill bridge was commenced in 

 April 1887, and that the bridge was completed and first swung, 

 by Erastus Wiman, at 4:15 o'clock in the afternoon of June 13, 

 1889. The first passenger train (Staten Island Rapid Transit 

 Railroad) was run from St. George and passed over the bridge 

 January i, 1890. 



The inscription would be more accurate and satisfactory if it 

 read as follows: 1889. Railroad Bridge over Arthur Kill com- 

 pleted. 



" Achter Kill " is neither ancient nor modern. In early days 

 the name was usually written " Achter Col," or sometimes " Achter 

 Kol." (See Index, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of 

 the State of New York — Achter Col ; also Van der Donck's descrip- 

 tion of New Netherland, 1655, as well as maps of the Dutch 

 period.) As the name Arthur Kill was used in the act of 

 Congress authorizing the construction of the bridge, and as it has 

 been called by that name ever since, there seems to be no sufficient 

 reason for the name " Achter " on the tablet. 



The fifteenth date and event inscribed on the tablet is : 

 1892. Installation of Electric Street Railroads. 



The committee of 1906 selected and approved the following: 

 "1891 (?). First electric railroad on Staten Island." 



The Port Richmond and Prohibition Park Electric Railway 

 Company built the first electric railroad on Staten Island, between 

 Port Richmond and Prohibition Park. 



The Electrical World states, in its issue of March 5, 1892: 

 " The Port Richmond and Prohibition Park Electric Railway has 

 secured a franchise from the Village, and will build an electric 

 road from its grounds near the Village, to the shore of the Kill 

 van Kull." And in its issue of July 2, 1892 : " Port Richmond, 

 N. Y. The R. R. commissioners have approved the application 



