By Mary Hoar, President Untermyer Performing Arts Council, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society
Monday, July 27th
July 27, 1924: After Building Inspector J. Simms Bartley surveyed Yonkers, he announced the geographic center of Yonkers was at Halliday Avenue and Palmer Road.
July 27, 1927: Although repeatedly denying he would run again, after speaking to Public Safety Commissioner William Cameron and Corporation Counsel Arthur Hume, Mayor William Walsh announced his candidacy for Mayor.
July 27, 1928: Because of a similar case in Albany, Yonkers Republicans and Democrats realized there may have to be a Mayoral election in November. Mayor Thomas Larkin had died suddenly two days earlier, just a few months after he was inaugurated. Common Council President John Fogarty, according to Yonkers’ line of succession, became Mayor. In those days, a mayor served for two years.
Tuesday, July 28th
July 28, 1924: The hottest topic of discussion at the New Main Street Merchants Association meeting was overhead wires on their street. Protests of the 40+ attendees were so strong, the Association Secretary was instructed to contact the Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company to convey the group’s concerns.
July 28, 1928: Five-year-old Guerino Talli became the harmonica champion of Columbus Park! His talent was developed and encouraged by Hubertine Wilke, the chairman of the Community Service Commission Music Committee and Anne Chinnery, Play Supervisor at the park.
July 28, 1992 Lea Loveless won a bronze Olympic medal in the 100-meter backstroke.
Wednesday, July 29th
July 29, 1905: The Yonkers League of the Colored Cooperators of America formally opened five new building on its property at Riverdale Avenue and Culver Street. Welcoming speeches were made by Mayor John Andrus, Reverend Henry Booker, entrepreneur F. J. Moultrie, and Reverend Smyer.
July 29, 1923: Filming began at Greystone, Samuel Untermyer’s estate, with the mansion utilized for the exterior shots of the Parisian home of the Duc de Brissac in the Paramount film “Zaza.” Gloria Swanson played the title role.
July 29, 1928: After leaving their police car parked on Nepperhan Avenue near Elm Street in the early morning hours, Sergeant Thomas Morrissey and Patrolman Thomas Whalen were shocked when they returned a few minutes later and found the car gone! Needless to say, the “jokers” who stole the car were being sought.
Thursday, July 30th
July 30, 1908: Dr. Oscar Rogers, Educational Chairman of the Sanitary League announced the group would use a phonograph to educated people on how to prevent tuberculosis; they would play recordings in public parks throughout Yonkers.
July 30, 1916: Although across the Hudson in Jersey City, blasts on Black Tom Island shattered Yonkers windows and alarmed our residents. A barge of explosives docked at the National Storage Company dock there blew up, killing three people and causing more than $20,000,000 in damages in the metropolitan area.
July 30, 1943: Employees at the Cameo Curtain plant on John Street, with 90% of their work being war production, posted large signs in their workrooms. What did the signs read? “We will be closed the day of Hitler’s funeral.”
Friday, July 31st
July 31, 1913: The New York Central Railroad Company installed a new automatic clock in front of the main depot at the foot of Dock Street. The face of the clock was made of marble, set in terra cotta quite similar to the station trimmings. The hands of the clock moved automatically every 30 seconds, operated by magnets.
July 31, 1920: After uncovering four cases of old Kentucky whiskey in a wooden shed on Brook Street, Detective Lieutenant Dennis Cooper and his staff tried to find the owner.
July 31, 1944: The day after the family of Staff Sergeant William J. Moore, Jr. of Van Cortlandt Park Avenue received a letter from the War Department announcing he had been wounded in Italy on July 12th; the very next day they received a letter telling them he was recovered and back in the fighting lines. What happened? He had been walking through an enemy occupied town carrying a big gun, when a piece of shrapnel hit his gun; the kickback from the
strike injured his hand. With his infantry division in Italy for nine months, the Saunders graduate was awarded the Expert Infantryman’s Badge and a Purple Heart.
Saturday, August 1st
August 1, 1908: The Order of True Brother, a Yonkers Jewish organization, purchased the Central Methodist Church property on Hudson Street, just west of Riverdale Avenue.
August 1, 1918: Twenty-five African Americans marched down Main Street to the Yonkers Train Station; they on their way to Camp Upton at Yaphank, LI, to join the National Army.
August 1, 1942: Colonel Oliver Troster, who gave up his Wall Street position and his Yonkers job as our Chief Air Raid Warden, reported to Washington DC for active war duty for the US Army in the Munitions Building. What happened the first day he reported to duty? DC went on active alert, sirens shrieking loudly while air raid wardens rushed to their posts. For the first time hearing the alarms, the good Colonel did not have to rush to a Report Center!
Sunday, August 2nd
August 2, 1924: South Yonkers tennis star Vincent Richards arrived back in New York on the Aquitania with his wife, the former Claremont Gushee. Crowds on the Cunard pier quickly mobbed the young couple, greeting the Yonkers native with cheers. Richards had won three Olympic medals, gold for the Men’s Singles and Doubles, and silver in the Mixed Doubles.
August 2, 1927: Mayor William Walsh, originally saying he would not run for mayor but then threw his hat into the ring to rerun for the office just a few days earlier, again reversed his position. He announced he would decline nomination and support Thomas Larkin, the Democratic Party official nominee.
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