KILLIAN'S HOTEL

The historical importance of Killian’s Hotel lies in the fact that it represents what the Massapequa area was like for many years, namely a place where people came to rest and relax. It was one of at least fourteen hotels that dotted the landscape throughout the nineteenth century.

You’ve already read about markers for the Woodcastle Hotel, Massapequa Hotel and Van De Water Hotel. Others, about which little is known, are Pennell’s, Doty’s, Paul’s and Panchard’s, the latter lasting until 1952. To round out the list, a 1910 map in the Floyd Jones Library identifies a hotel on Hicksville Road between Hamilton and Jerusalem Avenues and another on Merrick Road just west of County Line Road, at the southeastern corner of the Massapequas. I’D BE GLAD TO LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT THESE ESTABLISHMENTS FROM READERS WHO HAVE INFORMATION THEY’D BE WILLING TO SHARE.

Let’s return to Killian’s. It was opened in 1856, when the area was sparsely settled. Most residents at the time were Jones or Floyd-Jones family members, their servants, several farmers who had begun to settle in North Massapequa’s Farm District, and hotel workers who were available to cater to guests’ needs. The hotel was built on Hicksville Road north of Merrick Road, convenient to the nearby stage coach stop. Later its owners would benefit from the completion of the Southside Railway (today’s Babylon branch) and the convenient Massapequa station, which was located originally between Broadway and Hicksville Road.

Killian’s wasn’t a large and imposing structure when compared to the Van De Water Hotel on Merrick Road, the Massapequa Hotel near South Oyster Bay, or the Woodcastle Hotel, north of the tracks and further east. It had eighteen rooms and provided the advantage of being close to excellent fishing, hunting and hiking opportunities.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century the hotel suffered from competition provided by the larger and more lavish Massapequa Hotel and was forced to close. It became a residence for workers who were laying water pipes alongside the railroad, enabling the Brooklyn Water Company to extract water from the many man-made lakes it had created in the communities along the South Shore. Sunrise Highway did not yet exist, but the hotel was close to the tracks to provide a convenient resting place for work crews. It was closed in 1905 and apparently torn down, although there is some uncertainty about the date of its demise.

Newspaper reports from 1954 (Newsday, Long Island Press) document a fire that destroyed the Murray Hill Hotel, located on Hicksville Road and Maple Street. The hotel was located originally near today’s Sunrise Highway, but does not appear to have been Killian’s under a different name. Long time residents identify Pennell’s, then changed to Doty’s and finally renamed Murray Hill as the hotel in question. What is known is that early on the morning of October 3, the owner, Rolf Laerm, was doing some paperwork when his dog Buttercup became agitated. Laerm noticed smoke coming from the back of the building and roused the residents. He was able to rescue all twenty three, including several children. The building, made of wood, was completely destroyed. Interestingly, a few guests were Massapequa Park residents who were staying in the hotel while their homes were being finished. All were taken to the nearby Jones Beach Hotel in Wantagh, which coincidentally still exists today, and were aided by the American Red Cross.

When the Historical Society of the Massapequas decided to establish a marker to commemorate Killian’s Hotel, there was some uncertainty about where to locate it, because Sunrise Highway did not exist until the late 1920s. The Society finally selected an area on Hicksville Road, south of Sunrise, just east of the Massapequa Post Office. The marker was dedicated there in October 2009 with William Colfer as the Society’s President.