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Ronkonkoma Station ArchwayPhoto: User:DanTD · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Ronkonkoma

Half of Ronkonkoma’s homes were built after 1970

Most of Ronkonkoma was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ronkonkoma’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Ronkonkoma’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19023 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1956. Watch Ronkonkoma change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ronkonkoma’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ronkonkoma’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRonkonkoma: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Ronkonkoma on the map, 1902 to 1956

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ronkonkoma. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ronkonkoma on the 1902 USGS mapRonkonkoma on the 1919 USGS mapRonkonkoma on the 1956 USGS map1902Setauket sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ronkonkoma.

The story

How Ronkonkoma came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ronkonkoma.

Read it all →

The name "Ronkonkoma" comes from the nearby Lake Ronkonkoma, which in turn comes from an Algonquian expression meaning "boundary fishing-lake", also earlier written as "Raconkumake" and "Raconkamuck."

Ronkonkoma was the terminus of the first road in the United States designed exclusively for automobiles, the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, constructed by a consortium of investors called the Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc.; the consortium was led by William Kissam Vanderbilt II.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Ronkonkoma in 1882

Passages that mention Ronkonkoma, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Extending southward from the locality just mentioned to the borders of Lake Ronkonkoma lies a continuous settlement comprising about three hundred inhabitants, called Lake Grove. Lakeland, Lakeville and Ronkonkoma have been names applied to nearly the same locality. Several men from New York have m…
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 48Read the page →
Read the text

Extending southward from the locality just mentioned to the borders of Lake Ronkonkoma lies a continuous settlement comprising about three hundred inhabitants, called Lake Grove. Lakeland, Lakeville and Ronkonkoma have been names applied to nearly the same locality. Several men from New York have made this locality their country residence. The beauty of the lake presents an attraction such as but few of the island villages

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
half a mile east of the road leading from the east part of Smithtown Branch to Lakeland. At that point the road turns slightly to the north; but the line continues straight on until it meets the easterly line in Ronkonkoma Pond. The first settlers of Hauppauge were Thomas and Timothy Wheeler, who c…
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 18Read the page →
Read the text

half a mile east of the road leading from the east part of Smithtown Branch to Lakeland. At that point the road turns slightly to the north; but the line continues straight on until it meets the easterly line in Ronkonkoma Pond. The first settlers of Hauppauge were Thomas and Timothy Wheeler, who came there from East Hampton.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Ronkonkoma, 1902 to 1985

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1915In the archiveRonkonkoma
  4. 1920In the archiveAutomobiles Parked, Petit Trianon, Lake
  5. 1965Born hereJoe Jones is born here
  6. 1982Born hereLennon Murphy is born here
  7. 1984Born hereThorgy Thor is born here
  8. 1985Born hereKeith Detelj is born here
By decade

Ronkonkoma, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s4 items
Ronkonkoma1915RonkonkomaRonkonkoma1915RonkonkomaAutomobiles Parked, Petit Trianon, Lake1920Automobiles Parked, Petit Trianon, LakePetit Trianon, Lake1920Petit Trianon, Lake
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Suffolk CR 93 & LIMP Street Sign-12017Suffolk CR 93 & LIMP Street Sign-1Former Leeds Development Building;2017Former Leeds Development Building;
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Ronkonkoma
Retake this viewRonkonkoma, 1915

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ronkonkoma’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Ronkonkoma, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00020002020Peak: 20,029

Between 18,955 and 20,029 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ronkonkoma’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

5 famous people were born in Ronkonkoma

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Joe JonesAmerican basketball coach born 1965 · b. 1965
Lennon MurphyAmerican singer · b. 1982
Thorgy ThorAmerican drag queen performer and musician · b. 1984
K
Keith DeteljAmerican soccer player · b. 1985
Alexis WeikAmerican politician · b. 1972
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Islip27 historic placesA−Lake RonkonkomaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIslandiaIts storyDBrookhaven52 historic placesA−Bohemia1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSmithtown27 historic placesB−HolbrookIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHauppauge1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCentral IslipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ronkonkoma’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.