President Gerald Ford visits Yonkers in 1976, with Mayor Angelo Martinelli and other dignitaries looking on
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, October 9th
October 9, 1942: The Civil Part of City Court was installed in its own quarters in City Hall, a move hailed by City Manager William Walsh as the realization of a 40-year-old plan marking the separation of the Civil and Criminal parts of the court.
October 9, 1943: Yonkers Unity Week and Mrs. Harold Weidner brought two Baltimore natives together at the Jewish Community Center! While escorting Henry Frank on a tour of the Center, Mrs. Weidner came across the Center’s Executive Director, Isidore Beierfeld. As she began to introduce them, the newcomer gasped, “Isidore!” Beierfeld exclaimed “Mr. Frank!” Two had not seen each other for 25 years; Beierfeld had been a member of the Progressive Club at the Jewish Education Alliance, led at the time by Henry Frank. Frank was at the Center because his daughter Susan was performing with the Sarah Lawrence dance group.
Tuesday, October 10th
October 10, 1913: Building Inspector Bartley granted a permit to the Carlton Motion Picture Laboratory Company to build a two-story high studio at 537 Riverdale Avenue.
October 10, 1916: The automobile speed limit in Yonkers was raised from 10 to 15 miles an hour after City Judge Joseph Beall ruled our 10-mile limit violated state law.
October 10, 1952: President Harry Truman made a campaign stop in Yonkers; approximately 8,000 people gathered in Larkin Plaza to hear him speak in support of Adlai Stevenson, Democratic candidate for President.
Wednesday, October 11th
October 11, 1934: The Yonkers Board of Education discussed using part of School Six for the College of the City of New York’s state supported emergency college to offer freshman year courses. CCNY and state officials paying for the classes, stated they were ready to open the college as soon as Yonkers selected its location.
October 11, 1942: Vera Robinson of Pondfield Road West and Ravine Avenue’s Chief Petty Officer Bert Rothing, USN, shared the honor of being the first people to donate their bumpers to the “Bumpers for Victory” drive in Larkin Plaza.
Thursday, October 12th
October 12, 1946: Yonkers hometown hero General Joseph Stilwell passed away after stomach cancer surgery; on active duty at the Presidio (San Francisco), he commanded the Sixth Army, the administrative unit command of Army units in the western US. After cremation, his ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean and a cenotaph (empty monument) was placed in his memory in the West Point Cemetery. While alive, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Cluster, the Legion of Merit degree of Commander and the Bronze Star. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge as he lay dying; five months earlier on May 3rd, Stilwell and General Frank Merrill led two platoons of marines to end the Battle of Alcatraz.
Friday, October 13th
October 13, 1894: Two important golf tournaments were held at the St. Andrews of Yonkers-on-the-Hudson Golf Course, the first United States Open tournament for professional golfers and the first National Amateur Golf tournament. Willie Dunn, Biarritz golf teacher, won the professional competition and received $100 and a gold medal for his efforts. L. B. Stoddard of Saint Andrew’s won the amateur tournament.
October 13, 1976: President Gerald Ford visited Mayor Angelo Martinelli at Yonkers City Hall; while there he signed the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Amendments of 1976, while hundreds of school children and adults cheered. Besides our esteemed Mayor, other New York dignitaries witnessing the bill signing were Yonkers own Governor Malcolm Wilson, Senators Jacob Javits and William Buckley and several Councilmembers.
Saturday, October 14th
October 14, 1864: Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Provost General James Fry about an issue with the Civil War draft after the issue was brought to his attention; this letter now is in the rare autograph collection at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College!
October 14, 1926: Corporation Counsel Arthur Hume, addressing the Council of Yonkers Civic Organizations, called the plan to link the Hutchinson Valley sewage system with the Bronx Valley system emptying into the Hudson off Yonkers, “a scheme to make Yonkers a dumping ground for the rest of Westchester County.”
October 14, 1940: The Grand Jury investigation of Yonkers’ municipal affairs moved nearer a climax. Deputy Tax Commissioner Joseph Lenox, Deputy Superintendent of School Buildings and Maintenance Alfred Corbin, WPA Foreman Joseph McMahon who worked on School Five, and R. P. Nugent of Gazette Press were questioned on the purchase of materials and equipment for School Five. A major part of the questioning covered the installation of allegedly substandard heating equipment at the school. The Grand Jury also investigated reported attempts to license pinball machines in Yonkers.
Sunday, October 15th
October 15, 1926: An angry group of Yonkers citizens led by Mayor Walsh appeared before the Westchester County Sanitation Commission to protest the new Hutchinson River Valley sewer to empty into the Hudson at Yonkers. The Mayor bluntly told the commission if they did not abandon the plan, the citizens of Yonkers would bring a lawsuit to stop the county from “turning Yonkers into a cesspool.”
October 15, 1926: Former Yonkers resident Reverend Joseph Breslin, Vice Rector of the American College in Rome, was promoted to Monsignor by Pope Pius XI. Breslin was the son of Edward Breslin, the longtime Superintendent of St. Joseph’s Seminary and lived on Seminary Avenue. He attended St. Joseph’s School on Ashburton Avenue and later Fordham. The good father served in WWI with distinction as Chaplain for the 23rd Infantry and was decorated for his services during the flu epidemic on the transport General Grant.
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