By Mary Hoar, President Untermyer Performing Arts Council, Member Landmarks Preservation Board, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society
Monday, October 12th
October 12, 1913: Mr. and Mrs. John E. Bruce were requested by Bishop Samuel Fallows of Chicago to become members of the advisory council of the Illinois Commission to conduct the half-century of African-American freedom. The Bishop was president of the commission. The Bruces accepted the appointments. Bruce, an author, journalist, publisher, orator and historian, co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research with Arthur Schomburg at Edward’s Warburton Avenue home in Yonkers. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers.
October 12, 1939: Despite the threat of bad weather, several thousand war veterans, civic leaders and representative of dozens of Yonkers organizations marched through the heart of Yonkers. Chairman Alderman Salvatore Cerone had organized the “America at Peace with the World” to acclaim “Americans All,” Yonkers 1939 celebration of Columbus Day.
Tuesday, October 13th
October 13, 1976: President Gerald Ford visited Mayor Angelo Martinelli at Yonkers City Hall; while there he signed the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Amendments of 1976, while hundreds of school children and adults cheered. Besides our esteemed Mayor, other New York dignitaries witnessing the signing were Yonkers own Governor Malcolm Wilson, Senators Jacob Javits and William Buckley, Councilmembers, and children from several Yonkers schools.
October 13, 1983: Melissa Manning of Yonkers is crowned the new Miss New York State in Watertown, NY by Miss America, Vanessa Williams. Williams, previously Miss New York State, vacated her state title when she was selected to wear the national crown. Manning had been the first runner-up for the title.
Wednesday, October 14th
October 14, 1924: After raiding a Herriot Street basement, Yonkers police found a plot to hide Hip Sing gunmen in Yonkers prior to a Tong War in New York City.
October 14, 1930: 6,000 feet of beer pipeline was discovered running through the sewers under Columbus Avenue, Elm Street, Palisades Avenue and John Street.
Thursday, October 15th
October 15, 1915: Republican Yonkers Mayoral candidate Gideon Peck declared, “When women have the right to vote, the morale of the body politic will rise.” His opponent, incumbent Mayor James Lennon, won.
October 15, 1932: A passerby’s cigarette carelessly dropped set fire to the loading platform of the “Old Skin Shop” at 78 Elm Street. Assistant Chief Daniel Carnegie and other men from the nearby Fire Headquarters ripped up the burning boards, using chemicals to extinguish the flames.
Friday, October 16th
October 16, 1930: Yonkers police officers and Federal prohibition agents found 1,500 more feet of heavy 3-inch hose running through a sewer near the junction of Palisade Avenue and Elm Street; they believed this hose was used to transport beer from a local brewery or bottling plants in the city.
October 16, 1952: Ace Detective Sergeant Patrick Christopher was honored for his record setting service of twenty-five years in the Detective Division. After spending the day directing the Acropolis murder investigation, Christopher was presented a wallet with cash by the men with whom he worked. One of the most efficient and respected men in the department, he primarily trained and advised men in the division. Christopher was appointed a patrolman in 1926; just a year later—October 16, 1927—he was assigned to the Detective Division. During the inaugural of President Truman January 1949, Christopher was assigned to the Washington police at their request, the first time this honor was given to a Yonkers police officer.
Saturday, October 17th
October 17, 1914: Yonkers acrobat Clarence Birdsall played to a packed theater performing at the Orpheum; this was the first time he performed in his hometown in years.
October 17, 1922: Yonkers motorcycle officer John Fogarty of the Traffic Squad, on his way back from having his speedometer tested, was suddenly blocked on Broadway near 250th Street when a large baking truck pulled in front of him. After being taken care of by an ambulance surgeon, Fogarty arrested the driver and brought him to the New York’s 57th Precinct.
October 17, 1926: Mrs. Gordon Morris of the Women’s Committee for Law Enforcement told the Yonkers branch of the National Council of Jewish Women that repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment would never happen during their lifetime. She added if the Democratic Party held to a “wet platform” it would lose badly in the 1928 election as “…three quarters of the states” were “permanently dry.”
Sunday, October 18th
October 18, 1937: Superintendent of Schools Dr. W. W. Ankenbrand, informed the members of the Yonkers Board of Education they were required to provide soap and paper towels in the schools; the New York State Ed Department had made stricter regulations for the school health service. Several PTAs had protested the lack of facilities, stating teachers and parents had to make up the failure of the schools to provide adequate sanitary supplies. Only five elementary schools had soap and towels; one more had supplies for part of the year… two had paper towels, leaving eighteen grammar schools with neither soap nor towels. Two high schools had towels, and no soap, one had both, and two had neither.
October 18, 1943: Private Andrew Sutton, formerly Patrolman Andrew Sukowsky of YPD, while taking basic training in the Military Police School at Fort Custer MI, won a ten dollar first prize on Michigan radio program “Let’s make Conversation.” Formerly a Gorton High School athlete, Sutton was asked the question, “Is Marriage Complete Without Children?” He spoke so lovingly about his Yonkers wife and son, that the audience voted him first prize without hesitation. The Private later told friends he thought the audience had to be mostly married men with children, “judging by the applause” they gave him.
For more information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and our upcoming events, please call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com.
