Cue the Coachmen
Hicksville had the railroad but no passengers. Eleven miles away (which was not “right next door” in the horse-drawn era), Huntington had no railroad, but – along with some nearby communities, like Cold Spring – it had residents who sometimes wanted to travel on the new LIRR. Soon, the railroad cooperated with the stagecoach operators it had once dismissed.
In hindsight, this was not a surprise. Since the 17th century, residents of Huntington had been in close communication with other English colonists, especially those in Amityville and Jerusalem (today’s Wantagh). Their well-worn paths had become wagon roads, and as newer settlements came to be, these wagon roads stretched and bent to accommodate them. Stagecoaches tended to follow the most-used roads. Huntingtonians long had traveled to Cold Spring and East Norwich (think Route 25A), gone on either north to Oyster Bay or south to Jericho (think Route 106), and from the latter went on to Jerusalem (think – duh – Jerusalem Avenue).
Once Hicksville... well, materialized, it took no great leap of imagination to add it as a stop for the Huntington-Jericho stage. Indeed, it was obvious that the LIRR itself got involved and soon was managing the stage operations.
