Street And Day Named To Honor Huntington Hospital Benefactor

HUNTINGTON, NY — Cornelia Prime, Huntington Hospital's female benefactor, will be immortalized with a street renamed in her honor, the Town announced Wednesday.

On Thursday, August 1 at 1 p.m., AKA Cornelia Prime Day, View Acre Drive will be recognized as Cornelia Prime Way. It will coincide with the installation of the original plaque honoring Cornelia Prime's gift at the main entrance of the hospital. The event, set for Huntington Hospital, is located on Park Avenue and View Acre Drive. It will be hosted by Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci, Town officials, and Huntington Hospital Northwell Health officials.

In June, the Town Board designated August 1, 2019 as Cornelia Prime Day and renamed View Acre Drive as View Acre Drive/Cornelia Prime Way after the philanthropist, whose most notable gift to the Huntington community was the donation of land, the original building and an endowment for Huntington Hospital.

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

Dr. 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 regards as perhaps the most influential female resident in Huntington's history — for her extraordinary gift to the community.

In addition to the hospital (land and building), Prime also donated the clock tower on Old Town Hall, the Trade School Building on Main Street, funds for St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Huntington, Grace Chapel in Huntington Station (now Mt. Calvary Holy Church of Huntington), and more.