From the Dutch Oude Dorp, ‘old village’, the first permanent settlement on Staten Island.
Old Town was established in August 1661 in the colony of New Netherland, the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island. Its settlers were Dutch, Walloons and French Huguenots led by the Walloon Pierre Billiou. The station, opened in 1937, was first called Old Town Road, after the street that keeps the old name; the MTA dropped ‘Road’ soon after taking over the line in 1971.