Where Did Kings Park Get Its Name? Fuggedaboutit, Says This History Buff

"No sleep 'till Kings Park" might not have the same ring to it as the original Beastie Boys rap song but the name of the town shares a closer-than-you-might-think history with a borough affectionately called out in many of hip-hop's greatest hits, the former home of the Dodgers and he indelible Donnie Brasco.

In order to understand, Robert Saal, who runs the website KPPCHistory.com, says you have to go back to when the area was called St. Johnland.

"Before Kings Park came to be, if you traveled on 25A or the North Country Road, you had Smithtown, Middleville, and Huntington," said Saal in an email to Patch.
In the middle 1800s the Rev. Wm. Augustus Muhlenberg came to Long Island to find a place to build his getaway spot for New York City's orphans, war veterans and poor children, he stopped in this area and purchased a large piece of property and establish the the Society of St. Johnland. By the 1840s, the Long Island Railroad set up a stop and called it St. Johnland station, unofficially giving the place its name.

The success of Rev. Muhlenberg's endeavor became the model for Kings County to the west when the municipality came looking for a place to house an overflow of patients from its mental institution, even going as far as purchasing property from St. Johnsland for its own. (Kings County eventually became known as the borough of Brooklyn in New York City.)

The plan did not go over well with the residents of Smithtown and according to a story in the Brooklyn Eagle from Jan 31, 1885, they fought against it.

"The people in this town, in which St. Johnland is located, seem to be growing in their determination to fight to the bitter end against locating the pauper institutions of Kings County at St. Johnland, or any other place within the jurisdiction of the town," the paper reported.

Despite resistance, the King County mental institution was built.

"They named their new property Kings Park, built some houses and began bringing out patients," said Saal. "When word spread of the new mental hospital people began to bring their family members there by train or wagon."

With two similar institutions so close to each other, people became confused, mixing up St. Johnland with Kings Park Hospital.

Saal said that people traveled out to Long Island to try to drop their family members off at St. Johnland instead of the County-run facility.

"The (St. Johnland) staff was not happy about the new problem," he said.

The mix up only became worse as the hospital grew and New York City newspapers started using the names of the two places interchangeably.

"The Society of St. Johnland then went on a major campaign to restore their good name and separate themselves from the Kings Park Hospital next door," Saal said. "They even went so far as to beg the railroad to change the name of the station to anything other then St. Johnland."

Before you can say "fuggedaboutit" the Long Island Railroad switched the name of its station to Kings Park.

"And thus the community of Kings Park was created," Saal said.