John Henry Starin (August 27, 1825 – March 21, 1909) was a successful entrepreneur and businessman notably in the logistics and amusement industries.

In addition to serving as a U.S. representative from New York in Congress, he founded Starin's Glen Island Resort, America's first amusement park.

The islands were so popular that hundreds of thousands of visitors were brought every season to the attractions which included a zoo, a natural history museum, a railway, a German beer garden (around the castle-like structure which still stands today), a bathing beach, and a Chinese pagoda.

However, despite the large number of visitors, Starin stressed the well-behaved nature of the crowds and the orderly character of the experience, governed by a "middle-class code of conduct".

[3] One of the effects of Glen Island's popularity in the beginning of the twentieth century was the building boom in New Rochelle, which had rapidly grown into a summer resort community.

Today, a modest upright granite slab with a bronze face marks Starin's grave and those of his family members.