‘Parkchester’ blends Park Versailles and Westchester Heights, the areas on either side.
The name was coined for the planned community that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company built here from 1939 to 1942, on farmland of the New York Catholic Protectory, a home for orphaned and troubled boys. It joins the names of the two neighbourhoods on each side of the site. Later the name was unofficially applied to the whole surrounding area.