Kings County was settled by Europeans beginning in 1636 with a series of land grants provided by the Dutch West India Company. In 1638 the Company purchased a large tract of land in the area of present day Williamsburg, Bushwick and Greenpoint; beginning a series of land transfers that would turn the Eastern shoreline, then nearly the whole of Kings County to European control by the late 1640s.

As land grants continued to be doled out, small settlements including Midwout and New Amersfoort began to emerge under the general governance of the Director of New Amsterdam. This changed in 1645 when a group living in the English settlement of Gravesend petitioned Director Willem Kieft for a town charter. The Dutch West India Company quickly implemented a policy granting town charters to Breuckelen (1646), Flatlands/New Amersfoort (1647), Flatbush/Midwout (1652), New Utrecht (1657) and Bushwick/Boswick (1661). With the exception of Gravesend, the towns' people were responsible for nominating a town magistrate, who was then approved and supervised by Director Peter Stuyvesant (appointed 1647).

In 1664 the English gained control of New Amsterdam, renaming the area New York. On November 29, 1683 the six original towns were established as Kings County, serving as an administrative arm of New York colony. The first acts of county government consisted of various courts and a county clerk to maintain records. Beginning in the early 1700s a Board of Supervisors was established by delegates from each town, who would meet to discuss county issues and appoint various commissioners including County Road Commissioners responsible for various highways across Kings County. In addition to County government, each town was responsible for electing officials to oversee local matters such as the development of new roads and rules governing common woodlands. New offices were created as needed.

The population of Kings County grew rapidly from 1800-1830, especially in the towns of Brooklyn and Bushwick. In 1816 a small area in the town of Brooklyn extending from the East River to today's Borough Hall was chartered as the village of Brooklyn. Residents of the town of Bushwick followed in 1827 with the creation of the village of Williamsburgh. These villages elected trustees responsible for overseeing the growth and daily concerns of the villages, including the paving of roads and construction of new housing.

In 1833 the village and town of Brooklyn sent an appeal to the New York State Legislature for a city charter, which after several delays was granted in 1834. The remaining towns were slowly annexed to the city of Brooklyn beginning with Bushwick in 1854 and followed by the village of Williamsburgh, which existed briefly as the city of Williamsburg before annexation in 1855. Williamsburg was followed by New Lots (1886), Flatbush (1894), Gravesend (1894), New Utrecht (1894) and Flatlands (1896). The city of Brooklyn was consolidated into greater New York on January 1, 1898.