Willie Sutton, having broken prison in West Philadelphia and returned to his native New York, lived and worked at the Farm Colony, making many friends, and occasionally still carrying out robberies on the side, for which he was eventually recaptured. Until the 1930s, many if not most of the farm colony's residents were elderly, and at times numbered as many as 2,000; this number steadily declined after the Social Security system was adopted on the federal level in the United States (although noted photographer Alice Austen lived there for a brief period in the early 1950s), and the programs of the Great Society implemented in the 1960s further depleted its ranks, leading to the facility being closed in 1975. Since its closure, the Farm Colony site has been the focus of debate over land use. In 1980 the city attempted to sell the property to developers, but environmentalists and many Staten Islanders resisted the sale. As a result, in 1982, the city's Department of General Services was given authority over the land; this agency in turn transferred to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which annexed the section to the Greenbelt. The remaining at the site were officially designated a city landmark in 1985; many buildings remain standing at the colony, but have fallen into disrepair and have also been subjected to vandalism. In 1983, a Babe Ruth League baseball diamond was built on Farm Colony land; a second field was added in 2001. A 2020 article about the property, stated that the site has been vacant for four decades, but was "being redeveloped into a multi-use complex with commercial space, and ... housing options". References External links Photographs From Inside the New York City Farm Colony. Atlas Obscura Buildings and structures in Staten Island