By Mary Hoar, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History & President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday June 14th
June 14, 1946: Eustace Farley, Yonkers Red Cross Chapter Chairman, reported the Kingsbridge Road Veterans’ Hospital in the Bronx highly praised two Yonkers Red Cross Motor Corps members. The hospital had asked Yonkers for help in transporting ten disabled veterans from their facility back to Yonkers. The Yonkers Chapter not only provided their station wagon, Margaret Mahr and Henry Hallam were more than kind in driving, lifting and carrying our boys to their wheel chairs. According to the letter, “It was a big job well done, and you could not have sent two nicer people to help.“
June 14, 1949: A helicopter from the USS Missouri visited the Yonkers Seaplane Base, the very first non-Navy installation visited by a helicopter based on an American battleship! Piloted by Lieutenant James Braun of Ohio, the helicopter landed so crewmembers could get parts for an offset printing press on the battleship.
The first battleship to have a helicopter force, the Missouri had two $80,000 HO3S Sikorskys whose primary purpose was to perform rescues. It also distributed mail between the flagship and its escort ships.
Tuesday June 15th
June 15, 1943: Yonkers learned the Japanese conquests in the Far East were causing difficulty in our hometown! Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Factory, producing large amounts of cotton duck for use in the war, had trouble getting cotton. One reason was our Farm Belt needed twine. Without jute from the Far East, the twine had to be made from cotton instead of jute, using resources that might have gone to our Smith Carpet Company.
June 15, 1946: Yonkers Public Library Director Grinton Will announced the Yonkers Public Library had a list of more than 200 titles, chosen to further the practice of the “Golden Rule” and racial understanding. The bibliography, created for Community Chests and Councils by the American Library Association, was designed to be used by educational organizations to “make children and young people receptive to ideas of cooperation, generosity and thoughtfulness for others.” According to the literature, “Racial understanding, democratic ideals, life in other lands with underlying principles of sharing and worthwhile group living have been emphasized in poetry, biographies, stories, plays and pamphlets.”
Wednesday, June 16th
June 16, 1923: Police Captain John Cahill led brief ceremonies at the Second Precinct Roll Calls to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of its founding.
June 16, 1937: With 5,155 workers voting, the Textile Workers Organizing Committee of the CIO won the Wagner Act referendum by 315 votes, becoming the bargaining agent at the Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Factory. The Independent Smith Workers Union, considered to be a “company dominated union,” received 2400 votes.
Thursday, June 17th
June 17, 1927: Officer Thomas McCaul of the Yonkers Traffic Division bawled out the famous “King of Swat” for speeding in Yonkers. Babe Ruth had just given a speech in Hastings, and was speeding on his way home when the good officer stopped him and reprimanded him. After the lecture, he let Ruth continue on his way without a ticket.
June 17, 1953: The Herald Statesman issued an after two motor vehicle accidents on Neville’s Hill, the area of North Broadway just north of Manor House Square. In both cases, two large tractor-trailer trucks had their brakes fail, resulting in drivers losing control and endangering pedestrians and property. Both drivers steered their trucks off the road and crashed into buildings. The second accident actually knocked out Yonkers’ fire alarm system, further endangering the city.
Friday, June 18th:
June 18, 1935: Although silent film star Carlyle Blackwell was nabbed for speeding in our fair city, zipping down Central Park Avenue at 45 mph, fortunately, he got Judge Martin Fay for his hearing. Blackwell was one of the judge’s boyhood heroes, and the star-struck judge gave the actor a suspended sentence instead of a hefty fine! Fay happily reminisced in court about never missing one movie starring Blackwell.
June 18, 1943: Benjamin Franklin Junior High School Principal C. Powell Townsend had the honor of attaching a bronze plaque to the ambulance the school donated to the US Army. It officially was presented to Lieutenant Leland S. Nestle, USA at a ceremony held at the school.
Saturday, June 19th:
June 19, 1941: Although Ludwig Schlich, Attaché of the German Consulate in New York City, refused to comment on the US State Department order to close all German Consulates, he did say he “certainly would not stay in Yonkers” at his Midland Avenue home.
June 19, 1945: Caryl Avenue apartment residents were outraged by the NYC Parks Department announcement it would dig up the small vegetable gardens right behind their buildings, carefully planted and tended by the residents. The gardens, there for many years, were on the northernmost part of Van Cortlandt Park.
June 19, 1955: Cynthia Mullahoo of Trinidad was the first person in the US to have a visa extended to finish a business school course. Her visa was extended to allow Cynthia to graduate from the Pace Business School at 35 South Broadway. While attending school, she lived with her uncle Frank Ballgobin of Warburton Avenue.
Sunday, June 20th:
June 20, 1654: Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of Niew Amsterdam, sent a letter to Holland describing the potential danger from Native Americans. It also stated the “lands of the old Verdonck” were “divided and settled by his children and associates in various plantations and farms,” indicating Adriaen Van der Donck had passed away in 1654, before the Peachtree Wars of 1655.
June 20, 1975: After the Yonkers School Board gave him a new four-year-contract although he still had more than one year left on his original contract, Yonkers Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Robert Alioto announced he was leaving his position here to lead the San Francisco Schools. San Francisco gave him a four-year contract and a salary increase of $2500 to $44,500. Moving eliminated the possibility of a serious conflict between Alioto and Mayor Angelo Martinelli.
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.
