By Mary Hoar, President of the Untermyer Performing Arts Council, Yonkers Historical Society President Emerita
Monday, June 8th
June 8, 1936: Members of the Yonkers Kind Word Club were entertained while attending the Elks State Convention in Poughkeepsie; former Yonkers resident George Walsh, District Manager for Public Theaters, treated the group to a fine meal in his executive offices. The Yonkers Kind Word Club had one main qualification for membership, never saying anything kind about anyone! About twice a month the club officers selected a member and gave him a surprise dinner. The late May honoree had been mortician Edward Maloney; the club presented him with a coffin filled with golf balls!
June 8, 2001: Yonkers native Lieutenant General William Lenox, Junior, assumed duties as the 56th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Tuesday, June 9th
June 9, 1917: Governor Whitman signed a bill amending State Education Law limiting the number of members serving on local Boards of Education to nine members. At the time, fIfteen members were serving on the Yonkers Board of Education; Mayor Lennon announced he would appoint a new board of nine people.
June 9, 1930: In his efforts to prevent serious pollution in one of Yonkers principal sources of water, DPW Commissioner William Colquhoun banned out-of-towners from fishing in the Grassy Sprain Reservoir. He said an undesirable element from New York City fished the spot regularly, bringing lunch boxes and other paraphernalia, and always left the shoreline and water filled with garbage. This created a health menace. He added Yonkers residents, who had to get a fishing permit from DPW before fishing in the reservoir, complained many times about large picnic parties from the Bronx.
Wednesday, June 10th
June 10, 1914: Dr. Henrique Lopez made an unusual emergency call. The tug bug Victoria took him from the City Pier out to a canal boat moored in the Hudson to care for a woman giving birth!
June 10, 1934: Moored in the Hudson River off the coast of Yonkers for 18 days, the cruiser Salt Lake City was ordered to Hampton Roads for maneuvers. While here, thousands of Yonkers residents visited the ship.
June 10, 1939: After the Common Council adopted pension law changes the Yonkers Police Association wanted, Association President Thomas Cunningham commented he would like a survey of all New York State Police and Fire Pension Funds to find out what their members thought was needed.
Thursday, June 11th
June 11, 1907: The German Oddfellows paid $41,000 for the estate of recently deceased James Courter, first Mayor of Yonkers, to use as a residence for old people. Courter’s property was located on the north side of Tuckahoe Road.
June 11, 1937: Former Governor of Pennsylvania (1911-1915) John Kinley Tener moved to Fairfield Place in Yonkers. He had several careers during his life besides governor, including former President of the National Baseball League, former pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, former Congressman (1909-1911), former bank president and former manufacturer. While living in Yonkers, he devoted his time to his responsibilities as Executive Director of the Elks National Membership and Publication Commission. Shortly after arriving Yonkers, he helped the Yonkers Lodge with a charity show held at the County Center. He moved back to Pittsburgh in 1942.
Friday, June 12th
June 12, 1930: Trustee John Wallace asked School Superintendent Lamont Hodge to hook up Yonkers High School’s radio; the trustees wanted to listen to the Sharkey-Schmeling World Heavyweight Championship bout immediately after the end of their business meeting. However, Sharkey was disqualified in the fourth round for landing a blow below Schmeling’s belt.
June 12, 1933: A small piece of property in the middle of Central Park Avenue near the Cross County Parkway was designated a city park in memory of the late Park Superintendent Otto Frey.
June 12, 1940: The Federal Food Stamp Plan, a system that would bring an extra $500,000 of food to Yonkers relief clients, was launched at a ceremony held at the Public Welfare Department Store on Ash Street.
Saturday, June 13th
June 13, 1904: Joseph Warren Stillwell of Palisade Avenue, member of the United States Military Academy class of 1904, graduated from West Point. He was to spend his two month furlough in Yonkers before reporting for duty in Mindanao in the Philippine islands.
June 13, 1926: Patrick Cardinal Hayes dedicated a new church on McLean Avenue, Saint Paul the Apostle in Lincoln Park.
June 13, 1940: Mobilization Chairman Hartnett Ready presented his plan to the American Legion Crescent Post; the Legionnaires would be prepared to give immediate assistance to the City of Yonkers if our law-enforcement officials requested it.
Sunday, June 14th
June 14, 1940: Fifteen Directors and officials of the Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company donated funds for an ambulance for the British Army, and help the British-American Ambulance Corps replace the hundreds of ambulances lost in the Battle of Flanders.
June 14, 1942: City Manager Raymond Whitney asked the Common Council for permission to donate all rubber mats in city buildings and vehicles to our Rubber Salvage Drive.
June 14, 1942: Dr. Lawrence Ashley, the Defense Training Coordinator, announced eight new lathes and other machines for the defense training schools were sitting unused; the Board of Education did not have the money to install them.
For more information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and our upcoming events, please visit our Facebook pages. For information on membership in the Yonkers Historical Society, please call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com.
