On May 1, 2009 this bar opened to the public with the name Dutch Kills on our door. We took this name in honor of the enduring legacy of the neighborhood where we ply our trade and hang our hats. It remains our privilege to serve the people of this community as well as those who travel here from afar. Dutch Kills offers a vast range of classic and signature cocktails featuring only the finest spirits, the freshest ingredients, and a superior caliber of ice along with local beer, fine wines, and an exemplary selection of cordials.

Kill(s) [noun]; Dutch (kil), 1669: channel, creek. Used chiefly in place names in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York.

- Merriam Webster

Prior to the arrival of the Dutch, this land and these waters had been given a different name by their ancestral residents: “Canapaukah, which seems to indicate a shut-in water place, was later known as Dutch Kills. This inlet extended into the heart of Long Island City, its source being near the approach to the Queensboro bridge at Rapelye and Freeman avenues. Armbruster (Eugene L.; Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist, 1914) considers the name to indicate a bears’ water place, and thinks that this was indication of Canarsee (Indian) ownership.”

-Reginald Pelham Bolton, Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis, 1922

Dutch Kills would prove to be an important road hub during the Revolutionary War, and it would also serve as the site of a British Army garrison from 1776 to 1783. A century later, historic Dutch Kills was one of several hamlets that unified with Astoria, Blissvillle, Hunters Point, and Ravenswood in 1870 to become Long Island City. Long Island City was eventually incorporated into the City of Greater New York in 1898.