Ancient Hixtory
Wonderful articles about the history of Hicksville, researched and written by Ron Wencer. This complete monthly series spans 4 years, from May 2018 until April 2022. Enjoy!
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Many of us who grew up in Hicksville during the 1950s got used to hearing loud, sometimes conversation-stopping, airplanes pass overhead. Prior issues of Ancient Hixtory put some of these noisy interruptions into historical context, by discussing the respective roles that Mitchel Field and Republic Aviation played as America in turn faced the demands of World War II, of Korea, of Vietnam, and ultimately, of aerospace.
Click here to continue reading September 2020: Grumman in the 1950s
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In 1921, when my mother was thirteen, there was only one licensed radio station in the U.S., and it was in Pittsburgh. And yet, on the first Saturday of summer vacation, she got together with friends in Queens, and they listened to a radio. All over the Northeast, people were doing the same. Many years later, she would look back on that afternoon, and tell me how exciting it felt.
Click here to continue reading August 2020: Live From the Octagon...
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This month, Ancient Hixtory profiles John F. Heitz, who bought land in Hicksville in 1850. He was not the first German immigrant to settle in the village, but he may have been the one whose generosity had the most beneficial and enduring impact.
Click here to continue reading July 2020: A Quiet Man, Who Gave So Much to Hicksville
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In the years following the Civil War, Hicksville was not a village which one expected to see mentioned in front-page news - newspapers usually reserved such honors for criminal, the gory, or the terrifying. Thus, if it got mentioned, it probably was because ofa railroad mishap which had killed or maimed someone.
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By October 1918, the number of American war casualties was growing rapidly. At home, a Liberty Loan fund-raising campaign - the fourth in 19 months - was attracting crowds to its rallies, urging them to lend the government more money with which to fight the war.
Click here to continue reading May 2020: No Coffins to be Had
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Jericho was settled by Europeans in the mid 17th century. To its south, the empty plain saw no settlement for two centuries, although it was crisscrossed by many merchants and other travelers, who went back and forth between the settlements on the North and South Shores. The hooves of the travelers' horses, and the wheels of their wagons, slowly carved roads across the plain. Before one of the southbound roads got too far from Jericho, it forked in three, with each of its fork's tines heading off to a different South Shore settlement.
Click here to continue reading April 2020: The Triangle and the Square
