By an act passed March 7, 1824, the construction of a new State prison was authorized in the 1st and 2d senatorial districts, and the SingSing site was selected on account of its marble quarries -- which afforded a means for the advantageous employment of convict labor. -- its accessibility by water, and its salubrity. At that time there Mere only two State prisons in existence, one in New York City (called Newgate) and one in Auburn. "On the 14th of May, 1825," says Dr. Fisher, the historian of the Town of Ossining, " one hundred convicts from the Auburn prison, under the supervision of Captain Elam Lynds, were landed on the grounds from a canal boat in which they were brought. Operations were at once commenced, and in May, 1828,1 the prison buildings were completed. The main structure, which was built of hewn stone from the marble quarries, contained six hundred cells. Before the roof was fairly finished it was ascertained that the accommodations were entirely inadequate, and therefore a fourth story was added, which increased the number of cells to eight hundred. In after years two additions were built, each of one story, so that at the present time there are six stories and an aggregate of twelve hundred cells. These cells are seven feet in depth, seven in height, and forty-two inches wide, which gives but one hundred and seventy-one cubic feet of space for each convict." The institution was long officially known as the "Mount Pleasant State Prison." and the substitution of the style of the "Sing Sing Prison " was distasteful to the citizens of the village. In consequence various attempts were made to create local sentiment in favor of changing the village name, none of which, however, resulted in anything practical. It may be remarked in passing that residents on the outskirts of Sing Sing, in the direction of the highly reputable locality of Scarborough, usually manifest a decided preference to be considered inhabitants of Scarborough and not of Sing Sing.