"WESTBURY HISTORY in STRIDE" a Walking Tour
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“Westbury History in Stride” A Walking Tour Our tour starts at Post Avenue and Jericho Turnpike where there once was a well and pump where travelers could get refreshment. It servers as a symbol of the Historical Society of the Westburys. As you start a walking tour of Westbury, you are at the location of one of the oldest continually occupied religious sites in this country. The first settlers here in the late 1600s chose home sites where the forest met the open prairie, the Hempstead Plains, so the area was known as Woodedge or Plainedge. They cleared fields and built homes just north of an old Indian trail, “ye yeacois path," later Jericho Turnpike. One of these men, Henry Willis, had lived near Westbury in England and chose that name for the new community. He and Edmond Titus had known persecution for their adherence to the Quaker faith. Here they found freedom for the religious services they held in their homes, barns, or fields when joined by others of like belief. By 1701 they decided to build a meetinghouse. This very spot of ground, at our present Post Avenue and Jericho Turnpike, was selected as the site and 4 pounds paid for 3 ¼ acres of land. As the years passed two other buildings replaced it, the present one in 1902, all plain wooden structures. Additional land acquired over the years provides for the cemetery, which is famous for its beautiful trees and shrubs. During the early part of the 19th century growing differences between liberals and conservatives in the Religious Society of Friends led to the withdrawal of a group who built the Orthodox Meeting House near Post Avenue in 1830. It thus becomes the oldest building for religious purposes still standing in Westbury. The two branches are now happily reunited and the building is used by the present day school. This was started in 1957 in the Friends Center, as a nursery school. Additional classrooms built later enlarged the school to the sixth grade. This is one of many private schools serving our community. Just east of the Friends property are the grounds of the Episcopal Church of the Advent. The Church itself was organized in 1910 when Westbury's population was only about 1,200. The architect was John Russell Pope and the builder, a member and leader of the parish, John R. Hill. The day when Winthrop Hall was opened in 1912 was a great day for Westbury, for its facilities have always been generously available to the village. Now there was a place at this end of town for basketball games, gymnastics, theatricals, as well as the myriad activities related to the life of the church. The rectory built just previously, the additions and improvements to buildings and the establishment of the Nursery and Advent Tuller schools has all kept pace with the life of the community. Proceeding south on Post Avenue with the Friends Cemetery on the left, we pass on the right, the section known as Wheatley Villas. This was farmland until about 1912. Before the Northern State Parkway cut through our village in 1937, School Street extended to what is now Advent Street, which is also by a parkway exit. At this intersection there was formerly a blacksmiths shop, a very important place, where farmers brought their horses to be shod. The dark interior was lighted by the glowing embers of the forge when the smith shaped each horse shoe. The place operated to a late date because of the many polo ponies here. The blacksmith shop was one of many buildings moved when the Parkway came; it is now the Van Cleef Realty office further south. Several dwellings formerly here on both sides of the road stand today in various parts of the village. Next we come to an office building where the brick school erected in 1909 for elementary classes was situated. Reference will be made to other school buildings after we turn the corner on Rockland Street Pause here a moment to glance westward to the Methodist Church on Asbury Avenue. It is the third edifice for this congregation. Rev. Homer Rhinesmith served as pastor from the time this building was erected in 1950 until 1980. Facing Post Avenue on the south side of Rockland Street is a building with a long and varied history. Ambrose Clark, heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, built it at the time, about the turn of the century, when it was popular to move to the country for sports such as racing and polo. Later his extensive holdings in Old Westbury became the campus of SUNY. It was exciting when Mr. Clark could be seen driving "a coach and four" about country roads to return to the house here, it was the home of the White family for a long time, later a branch of Saks 5th Avenue and a funeral home before becoming the War Memorial Community Center. Local support, headed by the men of the Kiwanis Club led to the acquisition of the property in 1946. The building was remodeled to open as a library and soon became a recognized asset to the village. Increased use made it necessary to call for tax support in the school district area in 1956. A favorable vote resulted and trustees were elected. The original building, with additions, is now run by the Village of Westbury Recreation Department. Its principal use is by the Senior Citizens Group, a large and active organization. (You will see the present library later.) Notice now a house at the corner of Linden Place, typical of turn-of-the-century constructions. It houses the Village Recreation Department offices. North of Rockland Street are some of Westbury's present day school buildings. But let us try to imagine a Westbury of 1845. It was only then that the idea of a local public school developed. At a meeting at the house of David Layton, at one time a tavern on Jericho Turnpike, east of Cambridge Ave., Union Free School District I was formed and $180 raised by taxation to build and furnish the first school house on land rented from Thomas Powell, at some spot in this vicinity. (It was a tiny building and is thought to be what could be seen as late as 1914 used as a dog kennel near the previously mentioned blacksmith shop where it had been moved.) The school district soon purchased land on the west side of the former extension of School Street and in 1857 a larger one room school was constructed. Within thirty years there had been two additions, making a three-room school. This became the three dwellings you see opposite the Children's Library. In 1895 a two-story brown shingle building was built at about the location of the new wing of the Middle School. Many large shade trees grew on the school grounds at that time; a double row of maple trees lined the road leading directly to the front entrance, a porch shaded by a wisteria vine. Shrubbery on each side made good hiding places for hide-and -seek. There were no organized athletics in those days, but seasonal games are remembered-jumping rope for the girls in the spring and marbles and baseball for the boys. There was space for some of the classes to plant flowers and vegetable gardens. The 1895 building, supplemented by a lower elementary school erected about 1920, comprised the educational facilities of School District I. Some High School subjects were offered, but those seeking to graduate went to nearby villages. This could be done by train or trolley. In 1924 the town could be proud of its own four year High School built with many departments for a student population of about one hundred. A few years later the old wooden building gave way to a brick building for the upper grades which was absorbed by the Middle School after the neighborhood K-6 schools were built. It was enlarged by a connecting addition to the High School after the latter moved to a new campus in 1958. The entire complex here now houses the Middle School with recent additions. Now we cross the street to the Children's Library. This delightful place was a gift to the children of Westbury by Mrs. Robert Bacon as a memorial to her husband, Col. Bacon, who had been Ambassador to France. One of the reasons it is unique is that at the time of its opening, there were only two other libraries especially for children, one in London and one in San Francisco. Mrs. Bacon not only created a beautiful interior but also provided a garden at the side, then a quiet spot to be viewed from the windows. Generations of children have here enjoyed an introduction to the best of children's literature. The story hours have been famous. Noted people have signed the Library's guest book, starting with Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. It was here that Miss Jacqueline Overton, librarian for twenty-five years, wrote "Long Island's Story," its history for young people. Do find time to return here for an extended visit. You can then see the wall maps showing Long Island wild life, native plants and historic events and many special collections. Here it should be noted that the small brick building at the rear of the Children's Library that at one time was the librarian’s house became the headquarters of the Historical Society of the Westburys in 1977, by special arrangement of the Library Trustees.