Nationally known dramatic actor and operatic baritone Hubert Wilke
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, January 22nd
1947: Thanks to Alfred Reeves of Bronxville Road, Grand Central Terminal had hundreds of “key-locker-checking boxes” at the station. Reeves had almost missed a train several months earlier because of slow service in the checkroom. He devised a plan and presented it to Edwin Carey, head of services at Grand Central. After months of discussion and lobbying by Reeves and friends, his boxes were installed!
1952: The Common Council was asked to purchase part of the old right of way of the abandoned Putnam Railroad Getty Square spur, the area behind City Hall; the 500’ by 85’ property would be used to create 80 to 100 metered parking spaces. The property was bought from Petcycon Realty, owned by Edward Petrillo, S. Cyrus Lewis and State Senator Will Condon; the trio had acquired most of the right of way property from the south city line to the First National Bank building. From the proceeds of the sale, the real estate company paid “reverter interests” to the estates of William Nesbitt and James and Carlton Aborn.
Tuesday, January 23rd
1929: After a 31-hour race through treacherous seas, Captain George Fried of the United States Liner America found the disabled Italian freighter Florida 700 miles off the coast of the Virginia Capes, rescuing the ship’s crew of 32 people just in time. This was the second time in three years; he and his crew saved 25 officers and men from the sinking British freighter Antinoe in the middle of the Atlantic.
1934: The Crestwood Citizens Association sent a formal letter asking Governor Lehman to intervene in Yonkers’ proposed tax rate hike, declaring it would be “ruinous to the citizens of Yonkers.” It specifically requested the State declare a moratorium on all bond
payments, especially payments to the state on Yonkers securities it held.
Wednesday, January 24th
1921: The Forbes Players gave their first performance of “The Merchant of Venice” at the Warburton Theater. The company augmented its usual cast with players from the New York theater, including Yonkers own Hubert Wilke, noted dramatic actor and operatic baritone.
1942: City Manager and Acting Public Safety Commissioner Raymond Whitney “declined to comment” on Charles Burgess’ allegations the large number of Yonkers’ “bingo parties” were “war waste” and drained thousands of dollars from Yonkers residents. Officials were torn; although the ring of “big game operators” was very profitable, many Yonkers churches and charitable organizations ran bingo games.
Thursday, January 25th
1922: Republican Assemblyman Russell Livermore from Yonkers introduced a bill ensuring women were given equal representation on county political committees; it amended NYS election law because it increased the number of county committee members from each election district from one member to two.
Livermore’s mother Henrietta, the leading suffragist in Yonkers and New York State, was the founder and first president of the Women’s National Republican Club. She also was the first woman Vice Chair of the New York Republican State Committee and the first woman Vice Chair of the Westchester County Republican Club.
1955: Yonkers Common Councilmembers lashed out at the New York Herald Tribune for printing “half-truths and distortions” about Yonkers public schools. Edward O’Neill, Daily News reporter and Ninth Ward Councilman, stated the newspaper community considered the Tribune to be the “least likely to succeed, and the paper with the least circulation” The Council unanimously passed Michael Nugent’s resolution condemning the Tribune’s “scurrilous attack against the City of Yonkers… particularly the members of the Common Council.” They asked the Corporation Counsel determine
what action could be taken to ensure The Herald Tribune renounced the allegations and print an honest “appraisal of the Yonkers school situation.”
Friday, January 26th
1942: The first Yonkers’ case of “illegal disposition of new rubber tires” was reported to Maurice Neufeldt, Director of the State Rationing Board. A Yonkers man had new tires put on his car at a local garage; the car owner claimed the tires were purchased in Pennsylvania before a purchase permit was needed. Neufeldt would determine if the dealer should be prosecuted; if so, his stock would be seized and business shut down for the duration of the war.
January 26, 1955: The B’nai Brith Veterans Recoding Group, members of the Yonkers B’nai B’rith Lodge, provided free recording sessions for families to send messages to relatives serving overseas. People jumped on this opportunity; within a few days, 25 wives and parents recorded messages to send to their loved ones in the service.
Saturday, January 27th
1939: DPW Commissioner Edward Murray chastised Yonkers’ sanitation workers, reminding them to “exercise their rights in an orderly manner.” President of the Sanitation Employees’ Association Carmine Pagano was personally rebuked because 250 city employees protested loudly at the Common Council meeting the previous day. Murray said it wasn’t “a nice thing for city employees to crowd the Council Chambers…” and it wasn’t “becoming” for city workers to “boo and hiss the Aldermen.”
1945: City Manager Robert Montgomery implored Yonkers homeowners to use fuel other than coal to heat their homes during the coal shortage; city officials met two days later to decide if public buildings would be closed to alleviate the shortage, a decision other municipality had made.
Sunday, January 28th
1923: Yonkers Police watched a demonstration of a “bullet-proof” vest. Although interesting, Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Tobin reserved decision on whether to buy them.
1939: The World’s Fair Corporation notified the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce it bestowed the official title “Yonkers, Gateway to the New York World’s Fair” on the Terrace City. The title recognized the Corporation’s appreciation and approval of Yonkers efforts to promote the fair!
Questions or comments on this column? Email YonkersHistory1646@gmail.com. For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit our website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershist
