By Mary Hoar, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, August 16th
August 16, 1945: As war contract cancellations began arriving at Yonkers factories shortly after Japan’s surrender to the Allies, executives with Alexander Smith Carpet Company and Otis Elevator Company began reviewing and finalizing reconversion plans, plans that would affect thousands of Yonkers workers.
August 16, 1946: Joseph Love, Inc., announced plans to tear down their three-story plant on Ludlow Street to build a larger, “ultra-modern “ building for $650,000. Joseph Love was one of the largest manufacturer’s of girls’ clothing in the world, known for its “cheerful prints” and beautiful detailing: smocking, appliques and pockets shaped like flowers or sailboats.
August 16, 1956: The Rockefeller Foundation gave a $105,000 grant to the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research to continue a new research project, the study of the molecular mechanisms fungicides use to control plant diseases.
Tuesday, August 17th
August 17, 1933: As a cost cutting measure, Yonkers Mayor Joseph Loehr urged Governor Lehman sign the bill merging our Comptroller and Treasurer’s offices.
August 17, 1937: Yonkers second attempt at an Anti-Shorts Ordinance became law. This version was more restrictive than the first, forbidding anyone to wear shorts on Yonkers streets, including children. The original bill had been struck down by the Court of Appeals.
August 17, 1945: Hundreds of Yonkers motorists dusted off their cars, little used because of wartime fuel restrictions, and headed to the nearest gas stations to fill them up! Gas rationing was lifted when Japan surrendered two days earlier.
Wednesday, August 18th
August 18, 1930: After federal agents raided a Chicken Island bottling plant on John Street, they seized three trucks, brewing equipment valued at $25,000 and more than 200 kegs of beer with a retail value of $12,000. Nine people were arrested. Acting on a tip, the feds raided the plant, allegedly operating for two years; two other men escaped capture by exiting a side door. The two who escaped were arrested two days later when they returned to the John Street plant to hijack some of the confiscated brew.
August 18, 1941: The Yonkers Common Council authorized the removal of 40,000 cubic yards of fill from the Grassy Sprain Reservoir; this would increase the reservoir’s volume by 5.6 million gallons!
August 18, 1951: In the largest operation in NY Telephone Company history, an estimated thirty thousand Yonkers exchange phones were switched from manual to dial operation, affecting YOnkers 3, YOnkers 5 and YOnkers 9 numbers.
Thursday, August 19th
August 19, 1945: Yonkers learned that it was connected to the atomic bomb via well-known Yonkers families. The Calkin and Corbalis families were connected to the experiments at Los Alamos, New Mexico. John Calkin, husband of Eileen Corbalis, was one of the leading mathematicians behind “harnessing of atomic force!”
Harry Welty, Jr., son of Harry and Edith Welty of Normandy Road, worked in the Oak Ridge Tennessee atomic bomb manufacturing community. He served as Director of Transportation for the bus system and later became head of concessions for the city.
Former Fairfield Road resident Clinton Hernandez had been President of the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Better Housing Joint Labor Board and of the Joint Labor Board. He was Manager of the City of Oak Ridge, the residential area for many workers in the Manhattan Engineer District, code name for the atomic bomb project.
Friday, August 20th
August 20, 1927: Twelfth Ward Alderman Frederick Stilwell announced his retirement from political life after twenty-one years of service to Yonkers. In 1926, Yonkers named the triangular Stilwell Park on McLean Avenue near East 241st Street after him.
August 19, 1945: Former Glenwood Avenue resident Lt. General Levin Campbell, was assigned to the Office of Reconversion to help dismantle the wartime economy. During the war, Campbell had served as Army Chief of Ordinance, helping to organize “history’s biggest war-production job;” for his efforts, he received the Distinguished Service Medal twice. After retiring May 1946, he served on boards of several civilian businesses and was Executive VP for International Harvester.
August 20, 1955: By an extremely narrow margin, Anthony Bielski of Ash Street came in second in the International Competition for Apprentice Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, held at Purdue University in Indiana. His score, .4% less than the winner’s, merited a $500 prize.
Saturday, August 21st
August 21, 1914: School Superintendent Charles Gorton announced his concern about the September opening of Yonkers schools. Approximately 25 Yonkers teachers, teachers who had traveled to Europe for summer vacations, were stranded; their return to Yonkers was delayed because of the outbreak of war.
August 21, 1916: Yonkers police reserves were called out and sent to McCann’s Hall on North Broadway; a wedding party ended in a “free-for-all,” and sent several men to the hospital.
Sunday, August 22nd
August 22, 1902: Nine Yonkers police officers defeated players from the New York Kingsbridge precinct of the New York Police Department. Played on the Hollywood Inn field, the New Yorkers kept the Yonkers men from scoring for the first five innings. Once they connected in the sixth inning, there was no stopping Yonkers Finest, who won by a score of 5 to 2. Yonkers had an ace-in-the-hole with new officer Walter Wary. A crack semi-professional pitcher, Wary struck out 11 men in succession. After the well-played game, the New Yorkers were dined and entertained by the Yonkers men.
August 22, 1928: Donald Twine, Warburton Avenue, returned to Yonkers to tell tales about his 2,400 mile ocean trip to Cape Breton; he sailed in a thirty-eight-year-old yawl with two friends. They cast off from City Island on June 23rd and ended the trip at Twine’s home, right next to the Palisade Boat Club.
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