NY Governor and Presidential candidate Sam Tilden called Yonkers and the Greystone mansion his summer home
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, 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 31st
July 31, 1927: Yonkers was in the midst of its first theater strike. Licensed operators, members of the AFL, walked out because unlicensed and nonunion operators were used by some New York theaters. Yonkers police were busy “enforcing employment” of licensed operators. Strikebreakers, none of whom had the Yonkers license required by city law, operated the picture machines in all four Yonkers houses and… all four had failed the exam given by the Examining Board of the Motion Picture Operators a few days earlier in anticipation of the strike.
July 31, 1939: After cutting salaries by 7% the previous September, the Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Company and Local 122 of the Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, announced they had reached an agreement! The union accepted the company’s offer of a 5% raise, although they had requested it be bumped up to the previous salary level. The company created an additional 5% increase for night workers, one-week paid vacation, two hours reporting pay, and agreed to hold hearings on all disciplinary discharges with union representation if the fired employee requested union presence, all considered union wins. Reporting pay applied to workers who arrived at work to find they could not work because of operating changes; previously they were sent home without pay.
Tuesday, August 1st
August 1, 1939: Albany officials ordered dismissals of Yonkers WPA workers stop! Although the original order was to dismiss 1400 people who had been on the rolls for 18 months, the new order was to wait until Congress finalized their action on a spending-lending bill that would affect the layoffs. Unfortunately, this did not affect the status of the 900 people already let go.
August 1, 1940: President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Joseph Warren Stilwell, former Yonkers High School Senior Class President and Captain of Yonkers High School Football Team, to the rank of a full general, the first from the City of Yonkers. Others with the title of General at the time were Brigadier General Frederick M. Hopkins of the Army Air Forces; Major General Levin H. Campbell, Army Chief of Ordnance; and Brigadier General Frank Brady, Air Force.
Wednesday, August 2nd
August 2, 1939: Gambling took place under the stars at Pelton Field… with police protection! An estimated 400 people took part in the bingo fundraiser run by the Eighth Ward Republican Club; thy planned to use the proceeds to buy Christmas baskets. At the time, Yonkers rented Pelton during the day to use as a playground, but it was the only playground in Yonkers without swings, seesaws, or a sandbox.
August 2, 1939: Yonkers Labor Party Chairman Maurice Klein announced the party had nominated the first Yonkers woman to run for Eighth Ward Supervisor, Emma Jordan of Lawrence Street! A Smith Carpet worker, she also was Secretary of TWU Local 122.
Thursday, August 3rd
August 3, 1939: Yonkers Postmaster William Cronin, Westchester County Democratic Chairman, announced he was resigning his political post immediately… not because of scandal, but because he was “Hatched!” The Hatch bill forbid federal employees from taking part in any political affairs; Cronin made the announcement as soon as he learned President Roosevelt signeds the bill.
August 3, 1943: Besides processing sugar, employees of Refined Syrups and Sugars grew tomatoes on the roof of their riverfront plant as part of the war effort. Their goal, to raise 20,000 pounds of tomatoes for employees and their families, was met and surpassed.
Friday, August 4th
August 4, 1886: Samuel J. Tilden died in Yonkers at his Graystone estate. Tilden purchased the estate in 1879, a few years after his run for the presidency. He loved living in Yonkers and made it his main home, only returning back to his New York City home for the coldest winter months.
August 4, 1944: Private First Class Sterling Wildey of Yonkers was doing his war duty right here at home, serving as an Army military police officer at a Midwest prisoner of war camp. He wrote The Herald Statesman he had “just delivered 700 desuped supermen in good (?) condition.” Although he did not state it, he hinted they were German prisoners captured in the Mediterranean and Normandy area.
Saturday, August 5th
August 5,1927: The trial of Yonkers Alderman William McGeory, President of the Westchester County Building Trades Council, began before Federal Judge Jacob Trieber in New York City on government charges of conspiracy. The government alleged those on trial agreed not to “permit others to set any cast stone manufactured outside the district,” and that the allegedly monopoly cost NYC builders more than $1,000,000 a year. Attorney James Vahey of Boston represented McGeory.
August 5, 1946: Thousands of Yonkers residents listened to Councilman Edith Welty being interviewed on CBS national radio about our tercentennial celebrations. Mrs. William Gibbs McAdoo, widow of the former US Secretary of State and Yonkers resident, interviewed her in an informal chat.
Sunday, August 6th
August 6, 1936: Bill Slater, top sports announcer for NBC radio, told The Herald Statesmanhe was tired of being confused with Yonkers Alderman William Slater. Alderman Slater’s campaign against women wearing shorts in Yonkers apparently had caused many of sportscaster Slater’s listeners to write angry notes to the station stating they intended to dress as they wanted and defied him “to do something about it!”
August 6, 1941: Alderman Robert Goodwillie’s “Little Hatch Act,” his attempt to take politics out of local government by preventing political activity by government employees, was voted down by the Council.
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 info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org
