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.

Starin was born in Sammonsville, Fulton County (then a part of Montgomery County), New York. He was the grandson of Thomas Sammons. Starin pursued academic studies in Esperance, New York, where he began the study of medicine in 1842.

He first established and operated a drug and medicine business in Fultonville, New York, from 1845 to 1858. From 1848–1852, he also served as Postmaster of Fultonville.

Starin entered the freight and logistics business as the founder and president of the Starin City River & Harbor Transportation Co.

By the mid 1870's Starin was considered the "heaviest operator in the freight business in the United States."

From 1883–1909, he served as president of Fultonville National Bank. He engaged in railroading and served as member of the New York City Rapid Transit Commission. Starin also director of the North River Bank, in New York City, and the Mohawk River National Bank.

Starin was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1881).

In 1878, Starin purchased a series of small islands off the coast of New Rochelle, New York, for his country estate and eventually turned the property into an amusement park called Starin's Glen Island. He maintained the islands as a select summer resort, operating 12 steamboats to and from New York City. 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. A chain ferry transported visitors from a mainland dock on Neptune Island.