Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late 17th century to Staten Island, the area was the site of a Lenape encampment. The name "Arrochar" comes from the estate of W.W. MacFarland in the 1840s, who named it for his home village of Arrochar in Scotland.

At the beginning of the 20th century the neighborhood became a fashionable gateway to the resort communities of South Beach and Midland Beach. The house of the MacFarland estate is now part of the grounds of St. Joseph Hill Academy, a Catholic girls school. Across Landis Avenue from St. Joseph Hill Academy sits St. John Villa Academy, also a Roman Catholic girls school. Throughout the 20th century it became a residential neighborhood for various ethnic groups, Italian-Americans being chief among them. Arrochar today is still inhabited by many Italians and has a growing Chinese-American community as well.

Arrochar is served by the elementary school P.S.39.

Arrochar once had its own train station, on the South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway. The station was located at Major Avenue. This branch closed in 1953, and unlike the also now-dormant North Shore Branch, the tracks of the South Beach line have been removed and homes now stand on its former right-of-way.

Due to its proximity to the Verrazanno-Narrows Bridge, Arrochar is served by numerous express buses to Manhattan, as well as the S53/S79/S93 local buses to Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. It is also served by the S51/S81, S52, and S78 local buses to the St. George Ferry Terminal.

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