Dutch Kills was a hamlet named after its creek, a ‘kill’ in Dutch.
Dutch Kills was a hamlet named for its navigable tributary of Newtown Creek, on the site of today’s Queens Plaza; in 1870 it became part of Long Island City. ‘Kill’ comes from the Middle Dutch kille, ‘riverbed’ or ‘water channel’. 39th Avenue was once Beebe Avenue, and the station was signed 39th Avenue–Beebe Avenue until the Dutch Kills Civic Association asked for the neighbourhood’s name instead.