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Dozens of community members gathered in Hempstead in the village of Malverne on Thursday, Jan. 26, to watch as officials unveiled the new Acorn Way, the Malverne School District announced on Facebook.
It marked the culmination of years of hard work by several students at Malverne High School who pushed for the renaming after learning that the street’s original namesake, Paul Lindner, was a Ku Klux Klan leader in addition to being a village founder.
The former Lindner Place is home to Maurice Downing Elementary School, part of a school district where more than 44 percent of students are Black, according to US News & World Report.
“History was finally set right…” the district said on Facebook. “Today, with some of our current and former students who championed the change present to witness the historic moment in local history, the sign was replaced, and the street is officially named Acorn Way…”
Among those in attendance for the renaming was Malverne High School sophomore Olivia Brown, who told NBC 4 she decided to lead the push after researching Lindner for a school project in 2020.
“After doing research about who Paul Lindner was, how terrible of a person he was as a klan member, we decided to take it further,” she told the outlet.
Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett asked the students to submit a formal report on their findings, and in 2022 the Malverne Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the name change.
“I wish a little of Malverne could spread across the rest of this country,” Mayor Corbett told the crowd gathered for the unveiling.
The school district said the new name comes from its motto, “Oaks from Acorns.”
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