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!
Once, on a Christmas Eve in Hicksville, a tail light ignited a street fight between village residents and New York State Troopers. At its climax, the Troopers were backed against a wall by a crowd of 40 men, some of them armed, and many of them likely half-drunk. By the time the ruckus was over, several Hicksvillians had been arrested for their part in the riot. During the subsequent arraignment (at which guns once again were drawn) there was talk of charging some of the villagers with sedition. After all, this was 1917, and unpatriotic remarks uttered in time of war could not be tolerated.
Click here to continue reading January 2019: The Tail Light Riot
A couple glides through an endless snowscape, with no sound but jingling sleigh bells, the rhythm punctuated now and then by a horse's whinny or snort. It's like a scene from a romantic movie - and yet, the Currier and Ives lithograph shown below once would have fit Hicksville very well.
New York State Archives Digital Collections
Click here to continue reading December 2018: 1974 U.S. Postal Service Christmas Stamp
1924 photo by Triangle Studio of Photography (edited)
alternate versions available from Bettman Archive, Library of Congress, other sources
see Notes at end of this article
Click here to continue reading November 2018: A History Too Conveniently Overlooked
PART TWO OF THREE
As a child who first lived beneath the flight path to/from LaGuardia, I got used early to airliners flying overhead. When my family moved to Hicksville in 1954, it seemed much more quiet, and most of the time it was. Once in a while, though, something would loudly screech, roar, or rumble across the sky, and it almost never was an airliner.
Click here to continue reading October 2018: Noisy Neighbors Upstairs - Part 2
On a Sunday morning in May, 1912, onlookers cheered as a local cyclist sped through Hicksville. Jerome "Pete" Steinert was midway through the first of three long laps, competing in a race which would not end for seven more hours. Although the finish line was at Floral Park, Steinert was on his way to Stockholm.
Click here to continue reading September 2018: Jerome Steinert, Hicksville Olympian
In 1915 or so, if you lived in Hicksville and you wanted to visit your friend Hattie in Mineola, or your cousins in Manhasset, you could walk down to Depot Square (the triangle formed where Jerusalem Avenue met Broadway) and wait by the tracks - for a trolley! Since 1909, following the route shown above, a trolley line had been taking people back and forth. This is the story of that line, the New York and North Shore, of how it came to be, and of how it came to an end.
Click here to continue reading August 2018: Little Village on the Plains