Town Of Huntington To Honor Late Community Leader With Plaza Renaming

HUNTINGTON STATION, NY — Paul H. Johnson, Sr., a lifelong resident and active leader of the Huntington community, will be posthumously honored with a dedication ceremony, the Town of Huntington announced. Gateway Plaza will be renamed in Johnson's honor.

The ceremony is set to start at 11 a.m. Saturday at Gateway Plaza, at New York Avenue & Church Street. A historical marker is also set to be unveiled at the site of the former Odd Fellows Hall at 1000 New York Ave., Huntington Station.

Johnson was a Huntington High School Class of 1948 track star, Korean War U.S. Army paratrooper and lifelong member and leader of the Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church.

In October 2020, the town board renamed Gateway Plaza in Huntington Station after Johnson. The Town of Huntington African American Historic Designation Council and the NAACP Huntington Branch made the recommendation.

Odd Fellows Hall was significant to Huntington’s Black history, as it served as a local meeting place central to social activities for Huntington’s African American community from 1922 to 1945, the town stated. Gateway Plaza is where Johnson's Boy Scout Unit #106 met in Odd Fellows Hall, more recently known as Brothers Barber Shop, before it was demolished in 2017 to make way for the Gateway project.

The historical marker for Odd Fellows Hall was paid for by a Huntington Station Revitalization CBA Community Grant at the request of the town’s African American Historic Designation Council.

Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci, town officials and the town’s African American Historic Designation Council will be joined by the NAACP Huntington Branch, Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, and Johnson's family for the ceremony.