On Aug. 19, 1893, Arnold Heitz donated the present Heitz Place site to be used as a village hall. The main building was completed in 1895. Between 1895 and 1920 the village hall served a variety of governmental and meeting purposes. During World War I, the Heitz Place Courthouse served as headquarters for Selective Service for Eastern Nassau County. By 1915, the existing jail was deemed inadequate and a brick three-cell jail was built adjacent to the building. One of these cells was retained by the museum
With the commencement of World War II, the courthouse resumed its function as a Draft Board Headquarters. In the post-war years, the building served several new purposes. The parole officers were located there, and the town’s veterans agency official, Joseph McCarthy, counseled returning servicemen. The Heitz Place Courthouse fell prey to vandals until 1970, when arrangements were made between officials of the Town of Oyster Bay and the trustees of the museum for a long-term lease of the facility to Gardiner Gregory, to serve as a Long Island Earth Science Museum.
Gardiner Gregory was the curriculum materials director for the Hicksville School District in the late 1960s and early 70s. He collected moths and butterflies and then began collecting minerals. Displays at the museum include his collection as well as mineral collections, fossils, local artifacts, moths, butterflies, and fluorescent rocks.
The United States Department of the Interior recognized the building as a National Historic Place on July 30, 1974.
Sources:
“The Gregory Museum: Then and Now.” Nassau Observer, 10 May 2013, nassauobserver.com/the-gregory-museum-then-and-now
“History of Hicksville.” Hicksville Historical Society, 31 Jan. 2016, hicksvillehistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/about/history-of-hicksville
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