General George Washington rallying the troops
By Mary Hoar, Yonkers Historian, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the Key to Yonkers in 1977, the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, October 13th
October 13, 1918: Claude Rich of Beechwood Terrace, fighting in France with the famous Canadian light infantry command, the “Princess Pat’s,” was severely wounded, and treated at the East Bourne military hospital.
Formed in 1914, the troop was named for Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia, the daughter of Prince Arthur, Governor General of Canada.
October 13, 1942: Two sixteen-year-old Roosevelt High School students, Joseph Maccarone and William Kay, borrowed a car from Colonial Heights Nash Motors, and scoured Crestwood and Colonial Heights for scrap metal!
They collected 5,000 pounds of metal and turned it in to the Colonial Heights Nash Motors for the war efforts.
Tuesday, October 14th
October 14, 1926: More than 500 Yonkers citizens, including Mayor William Walsh, rooted for the young Yonkers team and witnessed them defeat the Pocatello, Idaho, team and win our first World’s Junior World Series Baseball Championship! The games took place in Philadelphia’ Sesquicentennial Stadium.
October 14, 1943: Missouri native John B. Powell, former editor of the China Weekly Review published in Shanghai, addressed the crowd from a wheelchair at a Community and War Chest Rally at Saunders High School.
A victim of the Japanese, Powell had lost 85 pounds and both feet. Interned after Pearl Harbor as a spy, his shoes were taken from him in his unheated, filthy cell. His feet froze, gangrene set in, so his feet were amputated. He returned to the States on the diplomatic exchange ship SS Gripsholm to receive medical attention at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.
Powell died unexpectedly February 1947 and is buried in Hannibal Missouri’s Riverside Cemetery.
Wednesday, October 15th
October 15, 1945: The Herald Statesman protested the indefinite loss of Yonkers’ Recreation Pier. During the war, the pier was used by Blair Shipyards, with no sight of ending of “occupation” after the war ended.
Blair’s presence ended mooring of the Hudson River Day Liners and other steamers docking for trips, excursions, and picnics. The paper suggested if the Shipyard was to continue building and repairing ships on our waterfront, other facilities were needed for the dayliners so the “pleasures of Hudson cruising might not forever be barred to thousands of Yonkers residents.”
October 15, 1946: Mayor Frank reported Yonkers received a final refusal from the Federal Public Housing Authority (FPHA) on the request for siding for the veterans’ temporary houses on McLean Avenue. The mayor sent telegrams to Senator Mead, FPHA Commissioner Myer and the National Housing administrator-expeditor William Wyatt, stating material similar to beaverboard was used on the McLean Avenue units without siding and the material, “already was buckling.” Veterans’ temporary housing was built from surplus Government supplies and moved from site to site. They took satisfaction in moving and rebuilding hundreds of structures without using finished siding.
They assured the mayor they would do anything necessary to put the accommodations in a livable condition before the veterans moved in.
Thursday, October 16th
October 16, 1939: Residents of South Yonkers were upset muddy water suddenly ran out of their cold-water taps. Why? Yonkers switched from the Wendover Road connection to Catskill water from the Hillview gatehouse, and the reversed flow stirred up sediment in the pipes. The Water Bureau’s “water gangs” flushed out hydrants and the condition was gone by the end of the day.
October 16, 1943: Staff Sergeant Carl Rudin, 75 North Broadway, was one of five “chorus cuties” putting on shows somewhere in China between bombing missions! If no WACS or Army nurses were around, these good sports pretended to be female entertainers. Rudin, who had worked for Danmore Dress Company a few buildings away from home, was a member of the US Army Air Forces heavy bomber group called the Liberators of China.
Friday, October 17th
October 17, 1776: General George Washington traveled Tuckahoe Road to inspect troops, roads and fortified places along the Bronx River, leaving from his headquarters at Thomas Valentine’s home on Valentine Hill, now St. Joseph’s Seminary and College.
October 17, 1923: Although City Judge Charles Boote, running for reelection, declined to actively campaign because the work of the court did not leave time for him to campaign, more than 100 people formed a committee to do electioneering for him. Boote believed tending to the court was more important, even if it cost the election.
Saturday, October 18th
October 18, 1935: The Carnegie Corporation of New York, in observance of the 100th anniversary of Mr. Carnegie’s birth, presented a portrait of Andrew Carnegie to the Yonkers Public Library. Carnegie donated $50,000 to build the library in 1903.
October 18, 1943: The John Dunbar Post, American Legion, accused the Board of Education of neglecting Roosevelt High School! Listing areas of concern in writing, the post mentioned leaking bathroom faucets, uneven flooring, broken and missing windowpanes, and a desperate need of painting. They stated the building was neglected for many years.
Sunday, October 19th
October 19, 1895: After the Common Council announced its plans to tear down the Manor Hall to build a new City Hall in its place, an irate citizen placed an ad in The Yonkers Statesman: “in memory of Philipse Manor hall, assassinated in 1895.”
October 19, 1960: Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy made a campaign visit to Yonkers. He said, “I have come here today to request your help in this election. Whenever it rains, the Republicans go inside, but we stay outside and fight. We are up here today in Yonkers in a campaign to ask your support, to ask you to join us, to ask you to build a stronger country. I ask your help.”
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.
