Early postcard of Larkin Plaza
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Revolutionary Yonkers 250 Chair and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, May 19th
May 19, 1938: Ridge Road resident Father Emanuel Awdishou had his day in NY Supreme Court; he had instituted a $45,000 lawsuit against the Yonkers Police Department for false arrest! He told the jury he was an Assyrian priest. He was conducting a service at St. Andrew’s Memorial Church when three detectives stopped the service and arrested him for being a “fake priest” who entered this country illegally. He claimed he was beaten, called “vile names” and had his clothes torn while at Police Headquarters.
May 19, 1941: Fourteen Immigration Aides and fifty-seven Yonkers police officers questioned one thousand people, part of a national drive to round up undocumented aliens. After questioning people in clubs, dancehalls, taverns, restaurants, pool halls and bowling alleys, they arrested just four men. The four men, from Spain, Portugal and Holland, were taken to Ellis Island after being booked at Police Headquarters. The men had “jumped ship,” one revealing he feared for his life sailing the Atlantic to the US; he had seen and heard ships torpedoed, stating,” I run away. No more Boom-Boom for me. Yonkers nice place. I want to stay.”
Tuesday, May 20th
May 20, 1918: Countess Laura de Turczynowicz addressed more than 800 people at the YMCA, speaking about her experiences in Poland during the German occupation and the need for assistance with the Polish War Relief. She wrote a book describing her time in Poland during World War I; When the Prussians Came to Poland was published in 1916.
May 20, 1931: Forty New York women, members of Women’s Organization for Prohibition Reform, stopped their motorcade in the Plaza at noon as the first stop of a two-week tour. Two hundred people, mostly men, attended their passionate meeting urging repeal of the 18th Amendment.
Wednesday, May 21st
May 21, 1943: One hundred St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church mothers recorded their voices to send to the parish’s 128 collective sons serving in the Armed Forces.
May 21, 1946: As part of the celebration of Yonkers’ tercentennial observance, Yonkers Library Trustees visited the Reference Room to view the collection of portraits of Yonkers’ former mayors, lent by City Hall. The portraits, usually hung in the Mayor’s Reception Room, were exhibited in the Library Reference Room, with a biographical sketch underneath each one. Only the last two mayors, Benjamin Barnes and Curtis Frank, were missing, but their portraits were promised.
Also on exhibit was the 1936 marker showing where Adrian Van der Donck built his grist mill ca. 1646, on the site of the Diamond K Market, corner of Main Street and Warburton Avenue. The Tercentennial Commission planned to mount the marker on a pedestal and place it opposite the Manor Hall.
Thursday, May 22nd
May 22, 1923: Thanks to memorabilia owned by Valentine Lane’s Carl Lachmund, an outstanding Yonkers musician who studied music with Franz Liszt, an article in the June issue of Shadowland magazine featured Lachmund’s experiences while a student and friend of the composer.
Lachmund ‘s collection of Liszt historical documents and photos was one of the most valuable in America!
May 22, 1942: Egbert White of Plymouth Avenue, retired VP of the Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn advertising agency, proposed a magazine for soldiers written by soldiers. His proposal was accepted early 1942, and Yank Magazine was born; he collaborated with Adolph Ochs, of The Chattanooga Times, Robert Fuoss of The Saturday Evening Post, and Liberty’s Alfred Strasser.
After accepting a commission as Lieutenant Colonel, he published a weekly 24-page weekly tabloid; it had no ads, cost five cents and was written by enlisted men.
Friday, May 23rd
May 23, 1930: An old tree on the north side of Valentine Lane, considered the oldest landmark in Yonkers, was pulled down by a DPW crew for safety.
According to Yonkers legend, General George Washington and his staff met under the big chestnut tree to develop a plan of action if British Troops camped at the foot of the Palisades across the Hudson attacked.
May 23, 1944: J. Johnson, Director of the Federal Office of Defense Transportation, announced the NYS Racing Commission assigned all Empire City Races to the Jamaica track as an emergency wartime measure. Johnson stated, “Neither the Commission nor the State of New York are taking racing permanently from Westchester.”
Saturday, May 24th
May 24, 1917: Colonel Henry Weeks spoke to students at School Twenty-Two about his “Remembrances of the Civil War.”
May 24, 1924: City Judge Charles Boote was robbed! A daring thief not only broke into the garage behind the judge’s home on Bruce Avenue, he stole the spare tire on the back of his car.
Sunday, May 25th
May 25, 1918: A report was released showing only one-third of the 20,000 Yonkers young women eligible to vote enrolled at local polls; 5,643 of those women had affiliated with a political party.
May 25, 1955: Officers Norman Fitzgerald and John McMahon heard Margaret Grady screaming in terror, so called for backup. John Stepien had assaulted Grady, causing bruises and cuts on her face; she escaped with one of her children.
People watched in horror as Stepien stood at a window holding a knife to the throat of his two-year-old son. He threatened to kill the toddler if anyone tried to enter his Warburton Avenue apartment. Other policemen distracted the dad while Fitzgerald and McMahon quietly broke in through a rear door, silently neared the man, and with flying tackles, brought down the crazed man. The radio crew outside saved the baby covered with the father’s blood.
After Stepien’s wounds were treated at the hospital, he was brought to the First Precinct, charged and arraigned.
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.
