By Mary Hoar, President Untermyer Performing Arts Council, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society
Monday, August 10th
August 10, 1922: As Lynn, Massachusetts, parachutist Harry Smith passed over Yonkers in a balloon 2000 feet high, he jumped! The balloon fell on a house on Voss Avenue; Smith landed safely on Frederick Street several minutes later.
August 10, 1934: Stockholm officials announced more than 200 committee members from several countries nominated Dr. John Mott of North Broadway as the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Mott, many years the General Secretary of the International YMCA, was credited for establishing and strengthening international Protestant Christian student organizations promoting world peace. He was not the winner that year, but received the award twelve years later in 1946.
August 10, 1938: After three days of soaking rain, the Eastern Lawn Tennis Championship at Westchester County Club resumed. Yonkers resident and Chairman of the Umpires’ Committee of the United States Lawn Association Ben Dwight organized a crew of ball boys and groundskeepers and gave them 500 towels to mop up the courts. This enabled long delayed first round matches to finish. Ben was not above helping; he was one of the first to take off his coat and begin sopping up water.
Tuesday, August 11th
August 11, 1929: Spreckels Sugar Corporation announced their promotion of Yonkers both as a home and business center; the company were wrapping their sugar cubes in paper printed “Made In Yonkers!”
August 11, 1937: The Lions Club initiated their campaign to teach Andrus boys up-to-date farming techniques and bring “scientific cows” to the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial Home. Scientific cows, according to the Lions, were conditioned to stay in a barn, not wander a pasture.
August 11, 1945: Yonkers own Dr. Thomas Broderick, a resident at NYC’s St. Vincent’s Hospital, made the national newsreels! He was filmed triaging and caring for victims of the Empire State Building plane crash.
Wednesday, August 12th
August 12, 1942: New Common Council member and Al Richter’s successor Thomas Sheridan stunned the other Common Councilmembers and City Manager Raymond Whitney with his first official act, getting an indefinite postponement of the “Junk Sale.” of Yonkers’ old lighting fixtures. City Lighting Inspector James Delehanty had told him they were valuable and could not be purchased at any price.
August 12, 1943: Traffic came to a dead stop on the Saw Mill River Parkway shortly after 8 pm just north of the Tuckahoe Road exit. They stopped to let a flock of gray-green ducks led by a white duck cross the highway for an early evening swim in the Saw Mill River!
August 12, 1944: The first lobster in modern times was caught in the Hudson River; two men crabbing in the middle of the Hudson raised their net and found a five-pound lobster! The catch was witnessed by Deputy City Assessor William Breithack who just happened to be near the Harriman Dock.
Thursday, August 13th
August 13, 1901: William Allen Butler’s coachman discovered a burglary at the North Broadway home of Columbia University’s Professor Michael Pupin. Seeing the door was open, thought the family had returned from their Connecticut farm. Seeing no signs of movement, he entered and not only found the house empty, it was a mess with papers scattered around. Police concluded burglars were looking for drawings of the Professor’s groundbreaking work, but Pupin had stashed all his papers in a NYC safe while he was away.
August 13, 1937: Yonkers was unsuccessful bringing back classes in the Yonkers Collegiate Center using WPA financing. The New York State Education Department gave a flat “NO,” stating that government aid would not be used to finance a college center in Yonkers.
Friday, August 14th
August 14, 1776: British warships Phoenix and Rose, the armed schooner Tryal and tenders Charlotta and Shuldham anchored in the Hudson River near the Manor House.
August 14, 1943: City Clerk Francis Heafy ordered shipment of 6,000 cigarette packs to Africa, Sicily, Australia, Southwest Pacifica and Alaska for soldiers serving in those combat areas. Of course, each pack was labeled as a gift from the people of Yonkers!
August 14, 1945: Three Yonkers boys serving in Europe, bumped into each other at the famous Grand Hotel in Paris! PFC Max Guralnick of Pier Street, PFC Jack Greenbaum of Carroll Street, and PFC Louis Morse of Highland Avenue ran into each other by accident, a wonderful impromptu reunion. Guralnick was stationed in Frankfort and served as a Russian interpreter and translator; Greenbaum was stationed at the Adjutant General’s Office in Rheims; and Morse was in the instruction and education division of the 19th Replacement depot. Each of them wrote home, saying the three were looking forward to their next reunion home in Yonkers!
Saturday, August 15th
August 15, 1916: The Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Association announced the Yonkers Carnival, scheduled for early September, was indefinitely postponed because of the polio epidemic. A special guests scheduled to attend was New York Governor Whitman.
August 15, 1931: Reconstruction of the inferior steel frame of the new Health Center in City Hall Park began under the supervision of Hinkle Iron Works. Construction stopped four months earlier when it was discovered the steel did not meet specifications.
August 15, 1934: After the USS Salt Lake City anchored in the Hudson River just off Yonkers, the people of Yonkers held a block dance in Larkin Plaza, one of our official events to welcome the crew!
Sunday, August 16th
August 16, 1936: Yonkers began a campaign to curb dog bites by creating watering places around the city. The local SPCA believed relieving animals’ thirst would make them less aggressive and more peaceful; they promised to supply watering pans to many Yonkers neighborhoods.
August 16, 1939: Attorney Samuel Untermyer offered Greystone, his $5,000,000 estate with its famed gardens and priceless statuary on North Broadway, to the City of Yonkers for a public park. The offer was turned down because it would cost too much money to maintain the property.
For more information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and our upcoming events, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YonkersHistoricalSociety. For information on membership in the Yonkers Historical Society, please call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com
