As our coverage of Staten Island Week begins, NY1 takes a look back at Midland Beach -- a once great retreat that many say has the potential to redefine the borough's shore. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

Oh, the lazy days of summer -- a time for people to relax, unwind, take the sun and visit the beach. Back in the early 1900s, Staten Island's Midland Beach was the place to do just that.

"People would come and spend summers here, they would rent bungalows or set up tents and they would live. And it was clear they were getting out into the country, they were getting to the shore, where it was airy and breezy in the days before air conditioning," said Historic Richmond Town Historian Carlotta DeFillo.

The beach drew crowds from Manhattan and New Jersey -- affluent people with money to spend at the boardwalk's many hotels and beer gardens and on entertainment like concerts, vaudeville and gaming. They came by trolley or ferry and stayed for a day or a week or the entire summer. An amusement park with a huge ferris wheel left an impression on those who rode it as children.

"We looked forward to it for days. We got there and the ferris wheel looked like it was about a thousand feet up in the air -- it was very exciting," DeFillo said. "There was the noise, the music of the ferris wheel, that's mostly what I remember. I know there were a couple of arcades with me but they did not make such an impression as the height of the ferris wheel and the huge expansive beach."

The boardwalk was built by private developers and thrived through the 1920s. Unlike Coney Island, it fell victim to the Great Depression through fires and eventually pollution.

"The quality of the water was really declining so water pollution sort of contributed to the demise of this very lively beach scene that you see in these images," said Sarah Henry of the Museum of the City of New York.

In 1935, the beachfront property was turned over to the city and money from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public works projects was pumped into reviving it.

Today, with help from the Staten Island borough president's office, the beach is back and draws many of the same crowds it did more than a hundred years ago. The Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier attracts fishermen year-round and the beach has once again become a destination.

"I think it's a place that all New Yorkers would enjoy. It's one of the most accessible areas of the waterfront on Staten Island, it's a great place to watch the stars come out at night. It's really beautiful," said Wagner College professor Lori Weintrob.