The area named after an old walled village of Shek Kong on the south side of north tributary of Kam Tin River, predating New Territories of 1898.

The village was demolished in late-1940s for the setup of Shek Kong Camp, south of Kam Tin Road.

Shek Kong is Cantonese phonetic transcription of native writing 石崗 that means a rocky mount.

The barracks and airfield occupied the largest area of Shek Kong, flattening the landscape and re-channelling of south tributary of Kam Tin River.

[citation needed] In 1938, an airfield, by flattening the land, was built around the village to defence against the Japanese advance to Kwangtung but soon converted to refugee camp when people fled from the Japanese aggression in Shanghai and northern China.

[9] The airfield rendered useless during Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between late-1941 and mid-1945 and returned to cultivation owing to food shortage.

[citation needed] The basin of Kam Tin and Pat Heung was long inhibited with known record of the ancestors of Kam Tin villages living in the basin as early as 973 and settled in 1105 during Song dynasty.