I have to admit, until recently I wasn’t aware of how much history there was to the Westerleigh area...
In 1848 the land was first bought by John Vanderbilt, but by 1887 it had been sold to the National Prohibition Party who intended to use it as a summer campground for its members; the tent community had bowling, tennis, a ballfield, stables and was an important meeting and lecture spot for the Prohibition Movement, including a visit by former President Theodore Roosevelt.
By the late 1880s the community started to shift from a summer retreat to an actual neighborhood with year-round residents. The first kindergarten to college school on Staten Island was built here (Westerleigh Collegiate Institute from which the neighborhood gets its name, it had been formerly called National Prohibition Park)
Westerleigh Park was donated to New York City in 1907, and the bandstand in the center of the park was constructed in 1923 was and still is a popular local spot for concerts and children’s plays.