Huntington Hospital Benefactor Honored With Road Renaming: WATCH

HUNTINGTON, NY — The legacy of Cornelia Prime, Huntington Hospital's female benefactor, has been cemented into the town's annals forever. View Acre Drive was renamed View Acre Drive/Cornelia Prime Way on Thursday afternoon, coinciding with the installation of the original plaque honoring her gift at the main entrance of the hospital.

Aug. 1, 2019, was also designated Cornelia Prime Day. You can watch video of the event below.

Huntington Hospital Northwell Health officials joined Chad Lupinacci, the town supervisor, at the event, along with Councilman Mark Cuthbertson, Councilwoman Joan Cergol, Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia, Receiver of Taxes Jillian Guthman and staff members from Councilman Ed Smyth and Highway Superintendent Kevin Orelli. Also in attendance at the ceremony: Sen. Jim Gaughran, Assemblyman Andrew Raia, Legislator William Spencer and T.J. Hatter, on behalf of Attorney General Tish James.

At the event, Lupinacci called Prime one of the most generous philanthropists of the early 1900s.

"We as residents of Huntington have reaped the benefits of her generosity," he said.

Lupinacci added the renaming is historic — the town historian said it could be the first street Huntington has ever dedicated in the name of a woman.

The movement to establish the first Huntington hospital was spearheaded by a woman, he said. The nearest hospital in the early 1900s had been in Mineola. Many attempts were made to raise money for a new hospital, but it wasn't until 1911 when Roland Conklin was selected as chair of the Huntington Association committee that any movement ensued. Conklin and 16 other women put on a performance of Shakespeare’s "As You Like It," raising $2,000 in a push for a new hospital.

Amid disputes over where the new hospital should be located, Prime bought a five-acre plot on Park Avenue in 1914 and converted it into a hospital. She was also supportive when it was later decided that a new hospital should be built, even agreeing to underwrite the full cost of construction.

The original plaque honoring Prime's gift was found paint-covered in 2018 in the basement of the original 1915 hospital building. The hospital restored the plaque and permanently reinstalled it at the main entrance of the hospital for Cornelia Prime Day.

Nick Fitterman, executive director of Huntington Hospital Northwell Health, wrote a letter to Lupinacci in May asking the town to honor Prime, who the town regarded as perhaps the most influential female resident in Huntington's history for her extraordinary gift.

Prime and her family also helped fund the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building and donated the clock tower on Old Town Hall, the trade school building on Main Street, money for St. John's Episcopal Church, and Grace Chapel in Huntington Station (now Mt. Calvary Holy Church of Huntington).

"It is a proud feeling to have such community-focused extraordinary former residents and to be able to give credit where credit is due, especially where it has been long overdue in the case of Huntington’s history-making and trailblazing women," said Lupinacci.