Coney Island’s Very First Resident was an African American Man

It was referred to as ”land without shadows” by Native Americans who didn’t reside in the area but rather searched the sand dunes for valuable items.

During the late 1700’s an Irishman named Peter O’Connor gave it the current Anglicized Coney Island named after the original Coney Island in Sligo, Ireland. O’Connor captained ships that sailed from a group of islands in Ireland still called today Coney Island to lower New York Bay. O’Connor’s Coney Island spelling was much different and recognizable than the Konijnen Eiland spelling used by the Dutch.

What most people don’t know is that the first year-round resident of Coney Island was an African-American man.

Starting around 1810 the current neighborhood of Coney Island was three distinct islands. Pine Island, the current area west of Stillwell which many current residents identify as the Coney Island Community. Glesbert’s or Johnson’s Island which ended where the Aquarium is today. The area of Coney Island was identified as east of Johnson’s Island. Eventually the Iron Pier separated those two areas. The first resident in Coney Island was an African American man named Jacob ”Jac” Boston who lived in the Glesbert’s Johnson Island area. Jac Boston helped build the island’s first hotel called the Coney Island House in the 1820s (later Oceanic Hotel) located at W. 6th and Sheepshead Bay Road (McDonald’s is on the current property). Jac Boston died shorty after injuring himself with a nail while adding the finishing touches on the hotel. 

Jacob ”Jac” Boston Coney Island’s first resident an African-American man whose name has been lost to history.

Want to learn about Coney Island’s First Hot Dog? Click here.