Not a Promising Introduction
The headline for the Eagle's profile - shown at the very top of this Ancient Hixtory article - focuses on the railroad, and the role that Hicksville will play in the future. It suggests that being at the end of the LIRR's electrified zone will be of great advantage to those commuters who live in Hicksville. An overview (partially excerpted below) reinforces that idea, invoking the village's historic connection to the LIRR.
To boil down what is stated and implied:
If you're looking for a picturesque place to live, look elsewhere.
This place is flat, with no streams or ancient woodlands.
It was born as a railroad town, and all these years later, being
on the LIRR is the still the first thing one must say about it.
In the near future, electrification of the line should make it an
especially good home for commuters.
Is this overview accurate?
As many of us know from personal experience, Hicksville would not be included in the railroad's electrification program for a number of decades to come. The testing, which would be conducted later in the year, was completely misunderstood by the Eagle, and likely by the people of Hicksville. As we'll see later, the tests were conducted for and by the Pennsylvania Railroad, not the Long Island.
This means that the profile's fundamental selling point for the village is untrue, the result of wishful thinking. Take that selling point away, and commuters would see a less compelling picture of Hicksville.
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The overview goes on to state that the LIRR has projected an astonishing 30% reduction in commuting time to Brooklyn within two years. The bulk of the gain will result from improvements on the railroad's line between Flatbush Avenue and Jamaica. Obviously, such an improvement will apply to all railroad towns east of Jamaica. Hicksville will get no unique benefit from the faster service.
For reasons unknown, this section ends with a superficial discussion of Hicksville's weather. Like the rest "of the Hempstead Plains," the village enjoys a "dry and equable" climate. "Breezes from the sound or ocean" fan it during "the hottest days of summer." Really? Do these words square with the Hicksville in which you, I, and anyone else grew up? I never realized that I had once lived in such a meteorological Paradise.
The Eagle's readers in Greater New York would have scoffed, for they had learned to endure oppressive heat and humidity, cold that froze bays and rivers, waist-high snowfalls, and hurricanes.
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