The Getty House, Yonkers, South Broadway and New Main Street
By Mary Hoar, President Emerita Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, April 25th
April 25, 1928: While Main’s Street Hamilton Theater was being demolished, a portion of the front wall crashed to the sidewalk, narrowly missing disaster. Although it crashed through the Main Street wooden bridge, no people were hurt. Project Superintendent John Abramsen noticed a small portion of the wall looked weak; he ordered the bridge blocked. Louis Glazer started to pull down the wall carefully from the top; it suddenly crumbled and he grabbed a standpipe to avoid falling with the bricks and stones.
April 25, 1948: Seven people, all self-confessed Communists, were arrested for disorderly conduct as they tried to sell copies of the Daily Worker to Mulford Gardens residents. Instead of buying copies, tenants threw flowerpots out their windows!
Tuesday, April 26th
April 26, 1925: Federal prohibition agents and YPD led by Chief Quirk staged a series of raids, arresting several people for unlawful possession of intoxicating liquors.
April 26, 1945: Corporation Counsel John Broderick spoke on the Law Department at the Yonkers Jaycees’ School for Civic Service.
Wednesday, April 27th
April 27, 1955: Landscape Avenue’s Dr. Aubrey Gorbman, Columbia Zoology Department Chairman, received the 1955 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. He took a one-year leave to study fish in Hawaii, earning praise for his study of the effects of nuclear fall-out on coral reef fish in the Western Pacific. In 1958, he spent a year in France on a Fulbright fellowship; in 1960 he was a visiting professor at Nagoya University in Japan, where he did research under a grant from the US Public Health Department. He was a pioneer in the field of endocrine systems in animals and humans, and in nurturing women in biology. A few years later, he left Yonkers and Columbia for the University of Washington. The Clinton White House presented him the Presidential Award for Science Mentoring in 1998.
Thursday, April 28th
April 28, 1940: Seventeen-year-old James Liston of Riverdale Avenue not only received a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund, he also got a $750 award for his education for rescuing Alfonse D’Amato! D’Amato’s kayak sprang a leak, overturned and sank. D’Amato was in trouble; Liston swam to him and began towing him to shore. Detective Thomas Flynn and Officer Wertis joined the effort; Flynn had a line attached to him. Seeing the line was too short, Officer Alexander Young swam out with a longer rope to attach to the shorter one. The line was tied to D’Amato, and he was towed in with the assistance of Officers Edward Stosch and William Bell who jumped into the water to assist. On shore, our Police Emergency Squad revived the unconscious man using an inhalator and a tank of oxygen, and then brought him to St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Friday, April 29th
April 29, 1931: Just as Diving Officer Hanson was closing the hatch of the submarine Nautilus, he found men three stowaways and led them out; they jumped from the craft to Mahlstedt’s Dock at the foot of Babcock Place! He entered the conning tower and locked it. Suddenly, it flew open again, and Hanson led out two more men hiding on the sub! The third try was successful and the Nautilus went down five feet in the Hudson to see if there were any leaks in the shell of the sub. The five men attempting to make the descent were mechanics working on the vessel; all five ignored their company superintendent’s orders to leave the sub!
April 25, 1937: More than 1,000 people attended the Yonkers Baseball League opening day at Pelton Field. The Yonkers Boy Scout Color Guard and the St. Mary’s School Fife and Drum Corps led in all four teams, and Elks Exalted Ruler Walter McCabe threw out the first pitch for the game between the Eighth Ward Democrats and the Yonkers Elks; Elks President O. W. Kalhkof caught the first ball. The Democrats beat the Yonkers Elks 16-5. Mayor Loehr threw out the first ball and Common Council President Frank Cotter caught the first pitch for the second game between the Champion Steers, who defeated the Yonkers Republicans 6-2.
Saturday, April 30th
April 30, 1786: Colonel Frederick Philipse died in Chester England.
April 30, 1910: Seventy-one year old Edward Payson Hall, nearing the end of his cross country walking journey from Santa Monica to New York City, arrived in Yonkers at 10:47 pm twelve days ahead of his schedule. Met at the city line by Captain William Lent and a squad of patrolmen, he was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Square, so large it was difficult for him to get into the Getty House to spend the night. He addressed the crowd for a few minutes, and thanked them for their support.
Sunday, May 1st
May 1, 1870: The founders of St. John’s Invalid Home rented a large building known as The Grove House on the east side of Woodworth Avenue, a little north of Locust Street.
May 1, 1910: Edward Payson Weston lazed in bed at the Getty House, resting and relaxing, while reading newspapers and catching up on his sleep. Mayor James Lennon, Corporation Counsel Thomas Curran, and former NY Police Chief John Cullagh stopped by to wish him well. He left LA February 1st, planning to walk from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 100 days. He relaxed for the day and left for the next day, walking the last leg right down Broadway from his hotel room in Yonkers. Once he reached Kingsbridge, enormous crowds cheered him all the way to NY City Hall Park, where he gave a letter to Mayor William Gaynor from LA Mayor George Alexander.
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.
