Old Westbury

Even They Couldn't Stop the LIE

Beginnings: Old Westbury's roots are far from the Gatsby-era Gold Coast mansions for which it is now famous. Such displays of extravagance would have been unfathomable to the humble English Quakers who settled this portion of the Hempstead Plains. Edmond Titus and Henry Willis were the first European settlers there, establishing farms in the 1670s. Willis named the area Westbury after a town in his home county of Wiltshire, England. The Religious Society of Friends was established early in what was to become Old Westbury. William Willis, Henry's son, donated land south of what is now Jericho Turnpike for a Quaker meeting house in 1700. Farmers were attracted because of its combination of plains, useful for farming, and forests, which supplied firewood. Indeed, it was known alternately as Plainedge or Wood edge. As the village of Westbury developed, the area to the north was known first as Westbury Station and then, since 1912, as Old Westbury.

Turning Point: The isolated farmland on the gently rolling hills of Old Westbury held great attraction for the industrialists of 100 years ago. From the 1880s to the 1920s, numerous grand estates replaced the farms. Millionaire landowners included Thomas Hitchcock Sr., Harry Payne Whitney and John Phipps, whose grounds have served since 1958 as Old Westbury Gardens, a museum and arboretum open to the public. The village is also home to the New York Institute of Technology, created in 1963 from the former estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.

Tally Ho: Horse breeding was a byproduct of the new wealth of Old Westbury. The nearby Meadow Brook Club offered members fox hunts and, more famously, polo. Tommy Hitchcock Jr., perhaps the world's greatest polo player, lived and rode in Old Westbury. His celebrity in the 1920s rivaled that of Babe Ruth.

No Through Road: The estate owners were among the few who forced roadbuilder Robert Moses to alter his plans, making him move the route of the Northern State Parkway five miles south to avoid the village. And even though they were unable to resist the Long Island Expressway, they ensured that no exits were built and that no streetlights shine on it in the village.

Where to Find More: ``History of Long Island - Old Westbury,'' by Esther Hicks Emory, and other materials available at Historical Society of the Westburys.