Once Upon A Time In Jericho… Famous Quaker Elias Hicks once preached in the Jericho Meeting House, which is more than 200 years old and still in use today, adjacent to the Jericho Historic Preserve.
Early in 1787, the Jericho Friends petitioned Westbury Meeting for permission to establish their own Meeting. With permission granted, the member purchased more than an acre of land from the Wright family for the new Meeting House.
Hicks surveyed the land and, local records suggest, probably designed the building which was completed in 1788.
As firm believers in education, the Friends soon appointed a committee to build a school on the property.
Completed in 1793, the school building survives today as the caretaker’s cottage at the Jericho Meeting House.
Read more about Jericho’s History in Jericho: The History of a Long Island Hamlet, written by local history librarian Betsey Murphy. You can pick up a copy of the book at the Jericho Public Library for a $20 donation.
