Fast-Forwarding
In the end, the Boston-NY service was a success for some years - until it was rendered obsolete by the building of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. Hicksville developed into a small but robust village, with everything a village should have: homes, churches, a schoolhouse, some light industry, a few shops, and farms. The LIRR had helped the village grow. For example, farmers could ship produce westward by rail, and they could have equipment, building materials, and other supplies brought to town the same way. Around the 1850s, the arrival of a number of new immigrants helped the population grow some more. The newcomers brought with them some new things, like the gold-beating industry, and resort hotels for city folk who wanted to come east to relax, hunt, and sleigh.
By 1900, the population of the Township of Oyster Bay had tripled, but Hicksville remained basically rural. There were large farms, and several agriculture-related businesses, including the very large A.J. Heinz facility. Looking back at the local newspapers, one sees that village residents had little difficulty taking pleasure trips into the City, or having friends from there come out to visit once in a while (both things being so unusual that the newspapers mentioned them). In 2019, one feels nostalgia about people once having been able to enjoy a rural existence so close to Manhattan. But the more one contemplates that, the more one starts to ask questions. Where did commuters live? Why were there so few of them?
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