By Mary Hoar, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Member of the Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board, and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, May 24th
May 24, 1917: Yonkers resident Colonel Henry C. Weeks spoke to School 22 students on his personal “Remembrances of the Civil War.” He spoke about his 1862 enlistment, camp experiences, and the children’s favorite stories, training and drilling of his very “awkward squad.” He described guarding the Harper’s Ferry’s bridge, the Battle of Bull Run, and the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek that resulted in Weeks losing a leg. Weeks, past Commander of Kitching Post No. 60 GAR, died the following year.
May 24, 1920: Admiral Purnell Harrington, Rudolf Eickemeyer, and Major Azel Ames formed a committee to compile a record of Yonkers men who served in the World War; they recommended Yonkers create a memorial to men whose lives were lost in the war on South Broadway instead of City Hall.
Tuesday, May 25th
May 25, 1935: Yonkers refused to issue a permit to the Youth Section of the American League Against War and Fascism to hold a demonstration against war on Memorial Day.
May 25, 1943: Sister Stella Marie, daughter of Dr. Paluel Flagg of Alta Avenue, was released from being interned in Shanghai. She was one of eleven Maryknoll Sisters held captive there.
Wednesday, May 26th
May 26, 1916: Detective George Ford made his debut as a film actor! The Pathe film company with stars Anna Nillsen and Tom Moore, arrived at our beautiful City Hall to film scenes for “A Trial of Souls,” number ten in Pathe’s “Who’s Guilty” movie series. They asked him play the guide to the Marriage License Bureau. Nillsen and Ford marry as her father tried to have her husband arrested; their parents, political rivals, try to annul the marriage, resulting in revelation of a family secret and death.
May 26, 1917: The Yonkers High School Track Team won the Westchester County Championship. Captain Alan Helffrich made the official presentation of the silver cup and silk banner the team received at the competition. Helffrich became one of the country’s great middle distance runners, winning several NCAA championships. He won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in the 4 x 400 meter relay; the team set a world record. He later served many years as President of the New York Chapter of the United States Olympians.
May 26, 1928: Roads through the new $1,000,000 plaza just east of the Yonkers New York Central train station opened for traffic. More work needed to be done, planting trees and bushes, promised to be finished by Memorial Day.
Thursday, May 27th
May 27, 1942: Yonkers first conscientious objector, Paul Muehike who objected both to combatant and non-combatant service in World War II, was sent to the Civilian Public Service Camp in Campton, New Hampshire. After several hearings, Muelhike convinced the local Draft Board of his sincerity.
May 27, 1945: Corporal Allen Brewster of Hamilton Avenue received an award for selling War Bonds to people around Clovis Army Air Field in New Mexico. The citation recognized Brewster’s “superb job” and his being “responsible for the sale of $412,735.50 in War Bonds to the civilian population.”
May 27, 1955: Health Commissioner Ralph Sikes announced the end of the Salk vaccination program in the Yonkers schools; a total of 6,184 children had gotten their shots. Parents of 2,036 children choose not get have their children get the vaccination.
Friday, May 28th
May 28, 1937: Children at Leake & Watts Orphan House celebrated the third birthday of the Dionne Quintuplets with help from the “Princess of Song,” Jessica Dragonette. Dragonette, a popular radio singer, was extremely active in the World War II effort. Not only did she frequently perform for the troops and sell a record number of war bonds, she performed so often for charities benefiting the troops, she was given an honorary commission as a Colonel.
May 28, 1945: A scroll honoring the 32 Yonkers Boy Scouts who died in the service of their country was hung in the Yonkers Scout Office.
Saturday May 29th
May 29, 1945: Acting on a request by the Yonkers Restaurant Liquor Dealers’ Association, Acting City Manager Norman Henderson proclaimed Yonkers would begin “Meatless Tuesdays!
May 29, 1947: Greenburgh Councilman Charles Costabell reported he received complaints from well over a dozen North Yonkers residents. They all complained Greenburgh dogs crossed the border, romped through gardens, destroying flowers and shrubs. They added their Yonkers dogs were not the “naughty” kinds of dogs that trampled flowerbeds and gardens. When asked his response to the complaints, he told them the people in “Greenburgh were bothered by North Yonkers dogs!”
Sunday, May 30th
May 30, 1902: Veterans of Meagher’s Irish Brigade attended a memorial service at St. Joseph’s Church for late members of their brigade. Celebrated by Assistant Pastor Reverend Bernard Brady, chaplain of the brigade the mass focused on the unit’s many valorous deeds in the numerous battles they fought in the Civil War. Captain Bates carrying their green flag led men carrying flags the Brigade fought under at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Antietam and Bull Run into the church. Each man wore a sprig of green commemorating the battle of Fredericksburg. After their color-bearer had fallen, hundreds of men broke shoots of boxwood from nearby bushes, put the sprigs in their hats, and rushed into battle. The men later were guests of St. Joseph’s Young Men’s Catholic Association at a picnic at Saw Mill River Park.
May 30, 1935: Pretty debutant Marion Ruth Nesbit of Pondfield Road West, disappeared without a trace on the eve of her graduation from Brantwood, a private Bronxville finishing school. After having lunch at Fred Steinmann’s pharmacy and stopping at the Bronxville Tennis Club, she was last seen on her way to take a “voluntary test.” Police from five states searched for her, speculating she was kidnapped, ran away or had amnesia. Her parents rejected the kidnapping theory; Mr. Nesbit, VP of the US Rubber Reclaiming Company, said the family didn’t have money. Her parents believed she had a breakdown, since it was the first time she was away without permission.
Questions or comments? Email YonkersHistory1646@gmail.com. For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit our website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com.
