Babylon Town renames street for Amityville minister

The Town of Babylon has approved the ceremonial renaming of a street in Amityville.

Town officials voted at Tuesday’s board meeting to rename Steele Place as Rev. Spurgeon E. Crayton Place.

Crayton was a fixture in the Amityville community where he served at the Holy Trinity Baptist Church from 1962 to 1987, according to a town spokesman. Crayton studied at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, where he received his master of divinity degree. He would later receive a doctorate of divinity from the National Theological Seminary in St. Louis.

Crayton preached his first sermon in 1955 and served at the Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton until 1962. After leaving Amityville, Crayton served at Mount Ollie Baptist Church of Brownsville, in Brooklyn, until his retirement in 2008.

Crayton served as moderator of the Eastern Baptist Association, president of the Empire Baptist Congress of Christian Education of the Empire State Missionary Baptist Convention, and also served as instructor for the National Congress of Christian Education for the National Baptist Convention. He is also a published author and playwright.