The Eiffel Tower under construction in 1888. Otis Elevator Company, still operating in Yonkers, was the only company that could build the elevator for the World’s Fair in Paris.
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Municipal Historian, recipient of the Key to the City of Yonkers, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Founder of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, March 30th
March 30, 1889: Salley Reid and John Upham won the first golf mixed foursome in the United States against her husband John Reid and Carrie Law. Many consider her husband John to be the Father of American Golf; John and friends started St. Andrews, the first Golf Club in the United States… still in existence!
March 30, 1928: A mystery ship was seized off our Yonkers coast by custom officials after it passed through a network of Coast Guards ships. The ship had a liquor cargo valued at $300,000, in today’s dollars… $5,733,070!
Tuesday, March 31st
March 31, 1889: The Eiffel Tower opened, equipped with Otis elevators! France wanted French manufactured elevators in thd entrance to their 1889 World’s Fair, but Otis was the only company in the world that could do the job. Because of this delay, the tower opened several weeks after the start of the Fair.
March 31, 1930: After she constantly rebuffed him, 40-year-old Peregrina Nunez of 245 New Main Street was shot in the head by 26-year-old Thomas Alonzo because she refused to elope with him. Alonzo lost his job at the restaurant and home in the Nunez rooming house because of his persistent unwanted attentions.
Hearing the gunshots, Patrolman Thomas Gleason ran into the restaurant and found Mrs. Nunez on the floor. Alonzo was in another room slashing his throat with an eight-inch knife. After a battle, Gleason managed to grab Alonzo’s knife.
Mrs. Nunez was expected to recover; Alonzo was rushed to St. John’s Hospital. He had lost so much blood, the doctors held no hope for his survival.
Wednesday, April 1st:
April 1, 1905: Not content with owning the best American bred collies, Samuel Untermyer imported six of England’s most valuable collies for his Greystone kennels, including eleven-month old puppy Southport Sculptor. Untermyer paid $3,000 for him, equivalent to $111,000 today! This young collie, voted one of the most valuable in England, already had won awards at his young age.
April 1, 1911: Workers began restoring the exterior of Manor Hall to restore it to its original pre-Revolutionary appearance. Work on the inside could not begin until the City Clerk’s office was moved to the new City Hall.
April 1, 1930: County Medical Examiner Amos Squire, MD, went to St. John’s Hospital to question Thomas Alonzo, unconscious and fighting off death. He had received 100 stitches to close the self-inflicted wound in his neck.
Thursday, April 2nd
April 2, 1926: Pioneer merchant Charles Culver passed away; his dry goods store at 5-7 Main Street was the largest shop in Yonkers. Culver’s home was at 149 North Broadway.
April 2, 1930: Spurned admirer Thomas Alonzo regained consciousness. Medical Examiner Squire announced he believed Alonzo would recover. Chief Quirk and Lieutenant George Ford Questioned him.
Mrs. Nunez in St. Joseph’s Hospital was expected to fully recover.
Friday, April 3rd
April 3, 1945: The Yonkers Historical Society placed a bronze plaque near the historic Odell Tree on Odell Avenue. Believed to be close to 1000 years old, the Odell Oak was the “oldest living thing in Yonkers.”
April 3, 1965: The Northwest Yonkers Civic Association sponsored a forum on riverfront development; 150 people attended the four-hour meeting.
Officials described a potential airstrip on the Hudson at the northernmost part of our Yonkers waterfront at a cost $7.5 million, with the federal government paying half. The general aviation airfield would be for private airplanes owned by corporations.
Planes would drop off passengers, then leave; there would be no hangars or facilities, and limited “tie-down” capability. The Yonkers Chamber of Commerce championed the plan; they had worked to bring air services to Yonkers for more than ten years. The consensus? Yonkers people needed more information!
Saturday, April 4th
April 4, 1934: Cora Porter, a Director of the SPCA, rescued a pheasant in Getty Square! She spotted it wandering North Broadway after 9:00 pm, looking at the windows. When it then tried to run across the street, the bird was scared by the cars and the noise of the Square; it tried to fly but couldn’t. When it finally reached the Singer Sewing Machine Company, it fell; with the assistance of a passerby, Cora captured the bird, and brought it to the SPCA shelter at the nearby police stable.
April 4, 1941: Two Yonkers companies received large contracts from Navy Supplies in Washington. Habirshaw Cable and Wire Corporation received a large order for electric cable; National Sugar Refining Corporations received a contract for more than $150,000 of granulated sugar.
Sunday, April 5th
April 5, 1928: The life of thirty-six year old Patrick Wall of St. Joseph’s Avenue was saved by the quick thinking of Elm Street coworker Marvin Oakley!
Both men were employees of Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company; Wall stepped on a 1200-volt live wire while working on a Warburton Avenue pole and knocked unconscious. Oakley grabbed Wall as he fell, holding on to him with one hand while clinging to the pole with his other arm.
Fellow workers Alvin Gibson and Edward Lewis quickly raised a ladder and grabbed Wall from Oakley.
The high voltage burned away both of Wall’s shoes. He was treated at a nearby store for burns on the soles of both feet, and then taken home.
April 5, 1934: Cora Porter ran an ad in The Herald Statesman: “Pheasant—Found. Getty Square, Wednesday evening. Owner, Phone YOxxxx”.
Now called Herbert, the pheasant was living the good life, safe in the SPCA shelter.
Any questions on this column, email yonkershistory1646@gmail.com.
For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, the Sherwood House Museum on Tuckahoe Road or their upcoming events, please visit their website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.
