Editing Jericho, New York (section)

==History==
Located in the Town of Oyster Bay, Jericho was part of the Robert Williams Plantation in 1648. The English families who settled in Jericho were, or soon became, [[Quakers]], members of the [[Society of Friends]]. Many fled from persecution in England and in the New England Colonies. They sought a peaceful existence as [[farmer]]s. The name of the area was changed in 1692 from '''Lusum''' to Jericho after the town in the Middle East near the Jordan River mentioned in the Bible as part of the Promised Land.

[[Elias Hicks]] married Jemima Seaman in 1771 and moved to her family's farm in Jericho, where he soon became a noted preacher of Quaker doctrine. All the Quakers suffered during the British occupation of Long Island in the Revolutionary War. The practice was to quarter troops in homes of residents, who had to provide room and board for them. The Quakers continued to protest the entire concept of war itself. After the war, peace returned to Jericho, and the neat farms and businesses began to prosper. A Friends Meeting house was built in 1788 in Jericho that is still used in the 21st century. A Quaker school was built in 1793, the Charity Society of Jericho and Westbury in 1794, and slavery was abolished in 1817, with Hicks' help.
[[File:Spencer Seminary.JPG|thumb|left|[[Platt Rogers Spencer]]'s Log Seminary in Jericho, New York]]

A post office was established in 1802, a [[cider]] mill in the mid-19th century, the first public elementary school in 1905, known as the Cedar Swamp School. Improvements to infrastructure were made with the founding of the Jericho Water District in 1923. As the population increased, a Volunteer Fire Department established in 1938, and a new elementary school was built in 1953 (Robert Seaman School). The population kept increasing until the last elementary schools in Jericho were built, the George A. Jackson Elementary School in 1957, the now closed Robert Williams School in 1961 and the Cantiague School in 1963.

After World War II, in the 1950s Phebe Underhill Seaman sold a large piece of her land to real estate developers. This property was developed for new suburban housing. The water tower was erected in 1952. In 1958 the NY Department of Transportation demolished "Old Jericho" to widen Broadway, Routes 106/107, and to put in a cloverleaf access to [[New York State Route 25|Jericho Turnpike]]. New grade schools and a high school were added to the community along with a shopping center, a new post office, new fire department and a public library.

Also in Jericho is the New York Community Bank Theatre, originally established in 1956 as the [[Westbury Music Fair]]. The main entrance to [[SUNY Old Westbury]] is located in Jericho.

=== Underground Railroad ===
The building now known as One North was built in 1789<ref name="Gil de Rubio, Dave">{{cite news |author=Gil de Rubio, Dave |date=November 8, 2017 |title=One North Opens on Maine Maid Inn Site |work=Syosset Jericho Tribune |url=https://syossetjerichotribune.com/2017/11/08/one-north-opens-on-maine-maid-inn-site/}}</ref> as the home for the prominent Quaker and abolitionist Valentine Hicks, his wife Abigail, and their children. Hicks' father-in-law Elias Hicks "had been the spark that helped convince Quakers and other like-minded people after the Revolutionary War that all men were created equal—including people of color who were enslaved".<ref name="Rumsey, Spencer">{{cite news |author=Rumsey, Spencer |date=February 4, 2014 |title=Slavery and Salvation: Long Island's Underground Railroad |work=Long Island Press |url=https://www.longislandpress.com/2014/02/04/slavery-and-salvation-l-i-s-underground-railroad/}}</ref> Valentine Hicks was also an [[Underground Railroad]] station master; in his home—a key [[Underground Railroad#Terminology|way station]]—a removable panel behind an upstairs linen closet (that is still there today) concealed a staircase to the attic where Hicks hid runaways until the coast was clear.<ref name="Rumsey, Spencer" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Velsor, Kathleen G. |title=The Underground Railroad on Long Island: Friends in Freedom |date=February 12, 2013 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-1609497705 |edition=Paperback}}</ref>  The [[Oyster Bay (town), New York|Town of Oyster Bay]] designated the site as a historic town landmark in 2012.<ref name="Bleyer, Bill">{{cite news |author=Bleyer, Bill |date=May 15, 2012 |title=Jericho's Maine Maid Inn gets landmark status |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/jericho-s-maine-maid-inn-gets-landmark-status-i70400}}</ref> In 2015 there was a lot of outrage over the preservation of this historic site. Partial demolition of the Maine Maid Inn took place without the approval of the Oyster Bay landmark commission, which outraged many preservationists. <!-- Valentine Hicks (1804) was the great-grandson of Jacob Hicks (1669–1755). He married Abigail Hicks, daughter of Elias Hicks. see Bliss Forbush, Elias Hicks, Quaker Liberal, p. 289. -->