Hall of Fame card for Yonkers native Billy Burch, enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History and the Key to the City of Yonkers, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Founder of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, December 1st
December 1, 1926: Federal Agents and Yonkers police conducted a surprise raid on the house at 590 Palmer Avenue; they removed a large quantity of liquor, stills, foil caps, fake bottle labels and a truck. Bottles of liquor were found hidden under the floorboards in the house; five stills and the operation were in the basement and attic. Officials stated this “facility” supplied liquor to most large New York City hotels and was one of the biggest liquor importers in the area.
Joseph Antler managed to break hundreds of bottles of whiskey, gin and champagne before agents burst in. The Pankau family lived at the address; husband Paul was a chef in an important NY restaurant. Police later learned Pankau called the precinct to report burglars trying to break in, and had asked officers be sent to his home!
December 1, 1934: Union members were upset when Public Safety Commissioner Denis Morrissey banned proposed burlesque shows at the Warburton Theater. Local 402, American Federation of Musicians, charged the Commissioner’s actions deprived their members and Yonkers of an annual payroll of more than $30,000. The musicians and stagehands circulated petitions to bring back those shows.
Tuesday, December 2nd
December 2. 1925: The New York Americans, the New York Hockey Club of the National Hockey League captained by Yonkers native Billy Burch, debuted playing the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, and won by a score of 2-1 in overtime.
Burch, the first American-born star of the National Hockey League, won the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player while with the Hamilton Tigers. Burch, labeled as “Yonkers Billy Burch,” was touted as the “Babe Ruth of Hockey,” to generate publicity and interest in the team. He was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.
December 2, 1926: Two Yonkers milkmen were arrested in Bronxville for delivering milk before 7 am, violating a new village ordinance. Judge Folfer ruled the “crime” a serious misdemeanor as householders “couldn’t take the milk in at such an early hour.”
Wednesday, December 3rd
December 3, 1934: Public Safety Commissioner Morrissey modified his “No-burlesque-for-Yonkers” edict after the Stagehands and Musicians unions protested Yonkers policy. If Independent Burlesque Circuit operator Morton Hanover assured the Commissioner only clean performances would be performed, Morrissey would allow him to reopen the Warburton Theater.
Unfortunately, informers reported there was little chance traveling companies would revise shows to meet those standards. Hanover truly believed he was doing Yonkers a favor by bringing shows here with an annual $30,000 payroll, and giving Yonkers unemployed people union jobs.
General consensus was Yonkers was safe from Burlesque.
December 3, 1942: City Manager William Walsh announced three ten-year city employees, all appointed by Mayor Loehr, would be dropped January 1st! Thomas Murty would replace Welfare Commissioner Nicholas Ebbitt; James Corbalis was to replace Deputy Public Works Commissioner Thomas Cooney; and Patrick Cleary would replace Water Superintendent Michael Harmonay. A fourth man, Charles Moncalleri, would replace Sealer of Weights and Measures Walter Hedding.
Thursday, December 4th:
December 4, 1888: Leake & Watt’s Orphan House Trustees purchased 33 acres of land in Yonkers to build a new home.
December 4, 1945: Yonkers residents had no doubt the reindeer spotted thundering up North Broadway was heading to the North Pole.
Saint Nicholas called for help from all reindeer, even those as far south as Yonkers. Santa sent out the call because it was the first peace time Christmas in several years; his team would not have to worry about guns and bombs fired by people trying to stop him for visiting good boys and girls around the world.
Friday, December 5th
December 5, 1926: Led by Lieutenant George Ford, Yonkers police arrested fifteen men accused of entering the United States illegally and turned them over to Ellis Island Immigration Officials.
Saturday, December 6th
December 6, 1914: Hawthorne Avenue’s Max Biber returned from Europe with horrific stories of what he witnessed in war-torn Hungary after being stranded in Budapest for two months.
December 6, 1928: The IOBB (Independent Order of B’nai Brith) auctioned off parcels of their Home for the Aged property at Riverdale Avenue and Valentine Lane. The home had the capacity to house 110 people, but only 23 lived there. They planned to sell and build a smaller home elsewhere.
Former Mayor Leslie Sutherland paid $16,200 for the first two lots at the corner of Riverdale and Valdale Avenues. When the home was built in 1882, future Parks Superintendent Frey had landscaped the grounds.
Valentine Lane, then known as “Lover’s Lane,” was so narrow large carriages would scrape sides as they passed by other carriages. In the 1890s, the Home was considered the “pride” of Yonkers.
Sunday, December 7th
December 7, 1942: Park Avenue’s Emmett Burke joined the Navy as a Physical Education Specialist with Lieutenant Commander Gene Tunney’s outfit! Grand Knight of La Rabida Council, Knights of Columbus, Burke taught Social Studies at Yonkers High. Burke, stationed at Norfolk, was one of four Yonkers teachers serving in the Tunney Command. Longfellow teachers Harold Reagan and William Shimmon both served at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, and John Acropolis, Roosevelt PE teacher, and former star basketball player at Yonkers HS and Colgate, also trained at Norfolk.
A fifth man, substitute teacher Second Lieutenant Thomas Grilli, entered the service at the end of 1941 and trained in Florida with motion picture star Clark Gable.
December 7, 1962: Senator John McClellan published an article in the Herald Statesman tying Union Leader John Acropolis’ murder to the Garbage racket after Yonkers stopped collecting commercial trash.
Questions or comments on this column? Email YonkersHistory1646@gmail.com.
For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.
