1976. The resulting residential building boom encouraged longtime farmers to sell their land to developers which fueled rapid growth in the area, continuing to this day. Sandy Ground Within Rossville is Sandy Ground, among the oldest surviving communities in the United States founded by free African Americans prior to the American Civil War, with the first documented land purchase by an African American in the area dating to 1828, just months after the abolition of slavery in New York State. Several of the community's historic structures are still extant, including five that have been designated as New York City landmarks, including a church, a cemetery, and three homes. Some residents also live in the original community. After slavery in New York was abolished in 1827, freedmen settled in the area known since colonial times as Sandy Ground, which was located in the area around what is now the intersection of Bloomingdale and Woodrow Roads in Rossville. These early settlers were skilled in the oyster trade, and brought this knowledge with them to Staten Island. The island's main hub for oyster harvesting was Prince's Bay, within walking distance from the Sandy Ground community. Sandy Ground also served as an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and is the oldest continuously settled free black community in the United States. Oyster farming ended around 1916 due to water pollution in the harbor. Fire of 1963 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. Although remnants of the original Sandy Ground settlement still exist, most of the original houses were destroyed in the fire. Rossville's character was transformed permanently by the fire. Once the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was opened 19 months later, it and many other Staten Island neighborhoods saw massive new home construction. Many of the homes in Rossville which had been spared by the fire were demolished to make way for new, often larger ones. Today The Sandy Ground Historical Society, was organized on February 28, 1980 at 1538 Woodrow Road. It preserves the history and physical surroundings of the Sandy Ground community and maintains the Sandy Ground Historical Museum. Although originally mostly farmland, Rossville has become largely suburban in nature—a fact lamented by its original residents, nearly