More Than a Street Name: Corporal Kennedy

A playground at the heart of Raymond O’Connor Park and the adjacent street bear the name Kennedy. However, unlike JFK International Airport, their namesake is not President John F. Kennedy. They instead honor Corporal William F. Kennedy (1893-1918), a mechanic who was killed in action during World War I.

Grave marker of Corporal William F. Kennedy (December 1891–30 September 1918), Somme American Cemetery, France. Photo courtesy of Find a Grave.

Kennedy was born in Bayside, where his father served as a police officer. When the United States joined the war in 1917, William enlisted and began training at Camp Upton. He was then stationed in France, where he served as a mechanic with the 107th Infantry Regiment in the 27th Infantry Division. While out on maneuvers, he was killed on September 30, 1918, in the final year of the war. He is interred in the Somme American Cemetery in France, one of more than 53,000 Americans who died in combat in World War I. To honor him, a local law passed in 1925 renamed Gardiner Street to Corporal Kennedy Street. In the same year, Bayside erected a 15-foot obelisk commemorating Kennedy and four others who lost their lives in World War I. Having stood at the Bayside LIRR station and in Crocheron Park, it now overlooks Northern Boulevard.

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  Source: Bayside Times, Vol. 54, No. 18, October 28, 1971.

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  Bayside War Veterans Memorial. Photo courtesy of the National War Memorial Registry.

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  Bayside War Veterans Memorial. Photo courtesy of the National War Memorial Registry.