Ziegfeld Follies dancer and Miss Yonkers 1925, Wilma Ansell Ziegfeld, in Atlantic City.
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, Chair of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, September 2nd
September 2, 1921: Many people witnessed a daring daylight hold-up on Glen Road! Two men from Hudson Street’s Metropolitan Tobacco Company, were delivering to a Thomas Plaza shop on Glen Road. Three men with revolvers jumped out of a nearby car. The Metropolitan employees had just started the day’s delivery, so didn’t have much money. The men jumped into the truck and searched it; they ended up with $50 in bills, ignoring hundreds of dollars of checks and loose change. Walking home, sisters Anna and Margaret Coyne spotted one of the robbers with a pistol, ducked into a store and called the police.
September 2, 1944: Metropolitan Airways of New York City filed proposed fares and flight schedules for helicopter service between Yonkers, Westchester, Connecticut and Manhattan. The Yonkers to New York flight would last ten minutes… and cost 65 cents! Metropolitan had arranged several New York City roof top terminals in the entertainment, shopping and financial districts. Their next step? Making sure they could buy helicopters!
Tuesday, September 3rd
September 3, 1948: An unusual circumstance caused City Judge Albert Fiorillo to fine himself for a parking ticket! He parked behind a cab on South Broadway and saw time on his meter. He assumed the cabdriver put a nickel in the wrong meter, so Fiorillo put a nickel in the cab’s meter, not realizing his own was about to expire.
He was ticketed by Traffic Division Officer George Nichols for an expired meter. When Officer Nichols appeared in Traffic Court for the complaint, he found Fiorillo was the hearing judge. After hearing the charge, Fiorillo announced, “I’m guilty. I fine myself $2,” then paid it!
Wednesday, September 4th
September 4, 1942: John Acropolis, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 456 Teamsters and Chauffeurs’ Union, was appointed a physical education instructor in the public school system at $1575 a year. Acropolis, star athlete at Yonkers High School, was a Colgate graduate and captained its basketball team.
September 4, 1944: Although it was a federal holiday, and many people would enjoy the Labor Day holiday, Yonkers war workers were on the job, continuing needed production to “bring our boys home.” Companies kept a small, minimal office staff, but our defense plant workers were in full force, especially at Otis, Habishaw Cable, and Blair shipyards. Smith Carpet company war workers were on full force, but a shortage of materials gave workers making “civilian goods” had the day off.
Thursday, September 5th
September 5, 1925: A committee of artists, sculptors and a swimming teacher selected Wilma Ansell to be Miss Yonkers of 1925. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Engle of 134 Nepperhan Avenue, Wilma was a talented dancer and entertainer; she was about to start her third season in the Ziegfeld Follies.
September 5, 1953: An Air Force helicopter joined the New York State Police, 50 people and bloodhounds in the search for Mary Kozier of Livingston Avenue, lost in the wilds of the Adirondack Mountains. She and her husband Basil had left their cabin to pick mushrooms but got separated. Search parties were a mixture of troopers, park staff, family members and volunteers.She was found.
Friday, September 6th
September 6,1941: The 56th Regiment of the New York Guard practiced mob and riot control at Tibbetts Brook Park… in the dark! They were under the supervision of Lieutenants James Arbuckle and Henry Fiedorowicz.
September 6, 1958: Three teenagers from Glover and Sterling Avenues were stopped by YPD Patrolmen Peter McMahon and Armando DeBlassis in the early morning hours in a pickup truck filled with AV equipment stolen from Lincoln High School! The boys entered the school through an unlocked window, and took sound systems, typewriters, tape recorders, phonographs, and more. When arrested, they were on their way to sell the goods to a Bronx man at a rendezvous on the 241st Street Bridge!
Saturday, September 7th
September 7, 1918: The Yonkers Statesman announced Colonel William Boyce Thompson of Yonkers had decided, as part of his contribution to war work, to send a Westchester County newspaper to each man enlisted from our county while on duty “away from home” engaged in military service.
September 7, 1948: One-third of the New York State War Service Scholarships awarded in Westchester were won by Yonkers residents. Open to World War I and World War II veterans, they took a competitive exam to win up to $350 annually for four years. Veterans could use the funding for any college, business, technical or vocational schools approved by the State Board of Regents.
Sunday, September 8th
September 8, 1938: Uncle Sam didn’t forget! Boone Street’s Henry Fiedorowicz, a former lieutenant in the 37th Signal Company of the NY National Guard, was heading to work when his doorbell rang. A mail carrier handed him an envelope; he was shocked to find a check for $21.60, his December 1918 pay!
While serving in France with the 107th Infantry, 27th Division of the AEF that month, Fiedorowicz was gassed and too sick in a French hospital to think about pay. Uncle Sam reissued the check and delivered it to Fiedorowicz twenty years later.
September 8, 1944: Yonkers learned the story of John Murphy, a quiet, modest WWI war hero, whose service was so outstanding, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Corporal Murphy, serving in Company C, 107th Regiment, 27th Division, crawled into “No Man’s Land” under heavy enemy fire to bring back a seriously wounded American soldier, saving his life. Murphy, of course, denied he was a hero and paid homage to those serving in World War II.
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
