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, July 11th
July 11, 1931: James Butler’s Empire City racetrack at Central and Yonkers Avenue opened its 22-day meeting with the Empire City Handicap. Butler, who completed extensive renovations of the track during its off-season, raced his own horse Questionnaire for the big stake.
July 11, 1939: Barney Connett did the first salt water test of his homemade 11-foot fish-shaped submarine off Ludlow Dock! The sub, just big enough for the 43-year old man, was launched in the company of about 50 bystanders, including newsreel cameramen, newspaper reporters and YPD!
Tuesday, July 12
July 12, 1950: The Federation of Yonkers Athletic Clubs held a parade and welcome home ceremony for Stan Bielat, winner of the National Public Links Golf Championship! Mayor Kristen Kristensen proclaimed “Stan Bielat Day in Yonkers, and our Athletic Clubs, Civic groups and veterans organizations participated in the parade on South Broadway. Organized by Federation President Edward Crowley and Treasurer Abe Cohen, the main ceremony was held at Larkin Plaza.
July 12, 1954: Yonkers resident Earl Browder, former National Secretary of the Communist Party, and his wife Raissa Irene Browder, appeared in Federal Court on charges they falsified information on Mrs. Browder’s citizenship application in 1949. They had stated she never was a member of the Communist Party. The Browders, who lived at 7 Highland Avenue, were free on $2500 bail each; if convicted, they each faced five years in jail.
Wednesday, July 13th
July 13, 1891: Yonkers Board of Health won its suit against John Copcutt, preventing him from drawing off the Nepperhan River below the level of the dams. Copcutt fought the Board of Health for many years, but all levels of the courts backed Yonkers’ decision.
All dams on the Nepperhan were demolished soon after, by order of the Board of Health. They were condemned on the basis that they caused the river to threaten the life of the people of Yonkers because of the extreme pollution and filth they created.
July 13, 1930: Demolition of the Flagg Building to make way for W. T. Grant Company’s new store on the site was completed, following surmounting a series of difficulties. The new store would be two stories and cost $200,000.
Thursday July 14th
July 14, 1875: Father Slevin, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception (St. Mary’s), held a Festival at Rollins Grove to support the “Free Schools of the Church of the Immaculate Conception.” Tickets were 50 cents each, and included a picnic and entertainment!
July 14, 1954: Employees at the Benson and Hedges Yonkers plant, manufacturers of Parliament cigarettes, received a letter announcing the “definite possibility” of moving the factory to Richmond, Virginia. Purchased in early 1953 from the Smith Carpet Mills, Benson and Hedges manufactured king-size Parliaments here. Their building was sold to Otis in 1956.
Friday, July 15th
July 15, 1920: Alan Helffrich was selected for the US Olympic Team; this made Helffrich, a “half-miler,” the third Yonkers man to be selected as an Olympic team member. Helffrich won gold as part of the 4×400 meter Men’s Relay Race. The first Yonkers man on the US team was Thomas Morrissey in 1908, who later joined the Yonkers Police Department. Second was track star Thomas Barden, selected for the 1916 US Olympic team; those games were canceled because of WW I. Barden later joined the Yonkers Fire Department, rising to the rank of Captain.
July 15, 1929: The United States government acquired most of the photographs taken by Rudolf Eickemeyer to exhibit them in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. The collection included portraits and studies made by Eickemeyer and a display of the medals and awards he won for his work.
At the time, Eickemeyer was long-term chairman of the Municipal Art Commission, president of the Yonkers Art Association and a trustee of the Yonkers Museum of Science and Art.
Saturday, July 16th
July 16, 1939: Yonkers City Court Interpreter Charles Civello received a cable telling him his son-in-law Lew Yancey of Lawrence Street had safely landed in London. Yancey had made a non-stop flight across the Atlantic with co-pilot Russell Roger; the flight originated in Buffalo.
July 16, 1943: Corporation Council Paul Bleakley announced the City of Yonkers had dropped its plan to appeal Supreme Court Justice Gerald Nolan’ Poultry Ruling. This ended a long-running controversy after Health Commissioner McGillian revoked Max Braun’s license for a live poultry market at 50 Riverdale Avenue; the license was revoked on the grounds zoning laws had changed. Justice Nolan upheld Braun’s contention that since the property had been used for a poultry market before the zoning laws were enacted, he was entitled to a “nonconforming use of the premises.”
Sunday, July 17th
July 17, 1936: Yonkers Police began a manhunt after thirty-year-old John Hendron was shot by a hold-up man in a wooded district on Scarsdale Road. Hendron stopped the car to turn around. A masked man came out from the trees, leaned in an open window, whacked Hendron on the head, and then shot him. The robber then grabbed Hendron’s coat and ran. Hendron flagged down a motorist who brought him to White Plains Hospital. The Tuckahoe woman with him stayed in the car, screaming and honking the car’s horn until a radio police car found her.
July 17, 1943: Staff Sergeant Edward Graham of North Broadway, with 42 bombing missions under his belt, was tail gunner on the “Dirty Girty,” the first American Flying Fortress Bomber to land in Sicily. It was an unexpected landing, as the plane had two engines disabled by enemy fire. The bomber safely put down at a landing strip Allied troops had captured just days earlier.
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.
