New plaque added to Roslyn's Hicks Bridge, 3 decades after historic marker went missing

The finer points of the crime have been lost to time, but this much is known: At some point before 1990, according to Roslyn Landmark Society archives, the plaque affixed to the Hicks Memorial Centre in Gerry Pond Park was stolen.

"To Henry Bergh," it read, "founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, April 10, 1866, Presented by Benjamin D. Hicks.” 

Decades later, Roslyn residents, animal welfare activists and descendants of Bergh and Hicks can exhale. The Town of North Hempstead recently unveiled its approximately $350,000 restoration of Hicks Memorial Centre and Hicks Bridge — including a re-creation of the historic plaque.

Howard Kroplick, co-president of the Roslyn Landmark Society, had been pushing for the restoration for more than a decade, he said, dating back to when he served as town historian.

"It reinforces the history of the community," Kroplick said. "Before, all you had was a stone bridge that nobody knew why it was there. Now, at least, we've documented the history of it."

The founding of the park dates back to 1929: George Robertson, publisher of The Roslyn News, was overlooking the untouched portion of swampland recently bought by the Village of Roslyn. He had a vision, according to Landmark Society documents: The area would make for a swell public park.

By 1931, the park was complete. It included the Memorial Centre, with a bronze plaque and a seating area above the stone Hicks Bridge, just west of the Bryant Library. It was named to honor the Hicks family who helped build the village.

The repair also included stabilizing elements of the memorial's wall that had shifted, the repointing of all stonework, cleaning biological staining from the stones, the addition of new railings on both sides of the memorial and more.

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said in an interview it's important for the town to care for its public spaces because "they are free."

"Some people think that North Hempstead is full of affluent people, but we have people of all backgrounds, and this is a place that they can share together," DeSena said. "It's good for our students, and all of us, to learn our history. ... These early settlers really worked hard building this community."

The renovation began in April, according to a news release, with the design produced by Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC of Manhattan, and the labor carried out by Henry Restoration Ltd of Nesconset.

In 2016, Kroplick said, he was walking in the park when he noticed the outline of a circle on a stone wall with four mounting holes. "That got me curious," Kroplick said. He went next door to the Bryant Library, where an archivist found a rendering of the old plaque. A plan was hatched. 

The town received a $25,000 grant from the Gerry Charitable Trust in 2016, according to the release. The plaque was finished by 2017 — but for nearly a decade, it sat on the floor in a town office, Kroplick said. The town didn't allocate the rest of the money, which came from the town's capital funds, until this year, DeSena said. 

Kroplick noted the Hicks family used to own the Roslyn Grist Mill, which is undergoing a restoration led by the Roslyn Landmark Society. In September, the Landmark Society received the first half of a $2 million funding award for the mill, which is on Old Northern Boulevard and was once the economic center of the village.

Karen Hicks, a Manhasset resident and owner of Hicks Nurseries in Westbury, was on hand for the unveiling of the new memorial and bridge. She told Newsday she was unaware of the space, or her family's connection to it, before being alerted by the town.

"I took my kids to Gerry Park when they were small, and we'd feed the ducks and walk around and see things," Hicks said. "I had no idea that was right there." 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.