 Its name came from the older, original "Three Villages" of Setauket, Stony Brook and Old Field after the merger of the Stony Brook and Setauket school districts in the 1960s.Ward Melville, a local philanthropist, was a proponent of the Three Village school district, and contributed land for its new schools.The school district is renowned for its West Prep program, a three-year science research program which produces record numbers of Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists.