The March 13, 1931, Friday the 13th Trolley crash.
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, March 11th
March 11, 1904: Yonkers resident William G. McAdoo, President of the New York & New Jersey Railroad Company, was the first person to cross from New Jersey to Manhattan Island under the Hudson River. He used the northern heading of the North River Tunnel minutes after its completion.
March 11, 1946: The NYC Planning Commission proposed the Major Deegan Boulevard be built through “Van Cortlandt Park terminating at Central Park Avenue at the Yonkers City Line,” with an exit from the boulevard throwing “traffic into South Broadway at the city line.”
Jacob Williamson, Yonkers Planning Board Chairman, sent a letter to the Common Council recommending opposition to New York State’s widening Central Park Avenue. The Planning Board believed widening the road would be “detrimental to the City (Yonkers) as a whole,” would “deter development of Central Park Avenue into a commercial artery,” and would “retard development of the east side of Yonkers” because too much property would be taken off Yonkers tax rolls.
Tuesday March 12th
March 12, 1916: The annual report of the Yonkers Women’s Christian Temperance Union made it clear there was strong evidence of drinking and dancing in Yonkers; because of this, Yonkers was termed a “center of worldly pleasure.”
.
March 12, 1930: Gray Place’s Robert Snody wrote and directed the just completed film “Kiss Me!” at RCA Gramercy Studios. The film, later named “The Love Kiss,” starring Forrest Stanley, Joan Bourdelle and Alice Hagemon, was the story of teens betting who would be the first to kiss a handsome teacher.
Wednesday, March 13th
March 13, 1913: Samson Palmer’s family made national news! Yonkers’ Health Officer Coons was sent to investigate the family living quarters; Palmer, accused of forcing his children to live in “inhuman conditions” laughed and stated his six children were the healthiest in the world. He showed Coons his “bubbling, chattering, rollicking youngsters,” all the picture of health, and claimed his children never had a cold. What were the inhuman conditions? The family lived in a tent along the Nepperhan Speedway (Saw Mill River Parkway). Palmer recommended tent life for everyone!
March 13, 1931: One person was killed and 36 injured when a runaway one-man trolley car plunged down Palisade Avenue and crashed into a building near New School Street. Hearing about the accident, Mayor John Fogarty announced he would seek an injunction against one-man trolley car operation in Yonkers.
It was Friday the 13th.
Thursday, March 14th
March 14, 1906: Yonkers Women’s Christian Temperance Union officers reported at the County WCTU annual meeting the prevalence of drinking and dancing in Yonkers made us a “center of worldly pleasure;” WCTU claimed 4,473 Yonkers people had signed pledges to abstain from using profanity, alcohol and tobacco.
March 14, 1921: After hearing about a proposal to annex part of Yonkers to Bronxville, Mayor William Wallin came up with one of his own; he suggested Yonkers annex the entire Town of Eastchester!
Friday, March 15th
March 15, 1944: Marine Sergeant Hugh Lynch of Livingston Avenue, busy someplace in the Pacific Ocean, reported on entertainment on a South Sea Island. After being treated to a native feast, his Marine unit taught a group of children the Marine Corp Hymn. The Chief of the island overheard the children, and asked the Marines if they would enjoy some local entertainment. Island natives sat in a circle and sang. After more than an hour of wonderful singing, the Marines were asked to sing. What did they sing? “Old MacDonald Had A Farm, “and “You Are My Sunshine,” to the delight of the island residents.
March 15, 1945: Former Yonkers resident Harry Stradling won the Cinematography Oscar for “The Picture of Dorian Gray!” His wife, Ann Linsenbarth Stradling, was daughter of Albert Linsenbarth, a forty-year employee in the Yonkers Herald Statesman composing room; her brother was YPD Second Precinct Sergeant Leslie Linsenbarth.
Saturday, March 16th
March 16, 1928: Ruth Elder, the first woman to attempt Transatlantic flight, was inducted as an honorary member into the Yonkers Aero Club at a ceremony held at Loew’s Theater.
Club Instructor Lieutenant Jack Haywang did the honors. Elder, known as the “Miss America of Aviation,” attempted the flight in 1927 with pilot George Haldeman in an airplane christened “American Girl.” They ditched the plane 360 miles from land but set an over-water endurance flight record of 2,623 miles, the longest flight ever made by a woman.
March 16, 1930: Members of the Westchester County Historical Society selected a 10-ton boulder, found near a road construction site, to mark the site of the old Valentine homestead on Valentine’s Hill. The property was used several times by General George Washington—and the British—as a campsite because of its commanding views from the Hudson to Long Island Sound. The property currently is the home of St. Joseph’s Seminary and College.
Sunday, March 17th
March 17, 1929: Irma Schubert, member of Yonkers GEM Girls’ Basketball Team, was the first woman to fly a plane over Yonkers! While piloting a biplane, she tossed out flyers advertising a coming basketball game between the GEM Five and Cleveland’s Blepp Knit Company, the Woman’s Western champions. After finishing her mission, she entertained Yonkers with fifteen minutes of aerial acrobatics, including a barrel roll!
Schubert was recruited for the GEMs by Team Manager Frank McCue and Coach Joseph Reagan from a NJ team. The GEMs were on their sixth year as Yonkers Champions.
Among her many talents, Pilot Schubert was a former Ziegfeld Follies show girl!
March 17, 1966: Baseball hero Jackie Robinson addressed the parents and children of School 22! Invited by Yonkers resident Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, Special Assistant to Governor Rockefeller for Urban Affairs, Robinson not only spoke to the audience about his time in baseball, but also about his son wounded in Viet Nam. He advised parents not to push their children, but let them play ball to learn team spirit, both in sports and in the community.
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@yonkershistoricalsociety.org
