Named after William J. Staples, a Manhattan merchant who laid out the village.
In the 1830s Staples and Minthorne Tompkins, son of Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins, bought land from the Vanderbilt family and laid out the streets. They started a ferry service to Manhattan and began advertising their new village in 1836. In 1866 Stapleton, together with Clifton, became part of the newly incorporated village of Edgewater.