By Mary Hoar, President Untermyer Performing Arts Council, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society and recipient of the 2004 Key to History
Monday, June 15th:
June 15, 1871: The Hudson River Railroad Company announced they were constructing an iron building on the Locust Street grounds. The entrance to the trains only would be through the depot as the track would be fenced in, with entrance gates at Ashburton Avenue and Locust Street.
June 15, 1931: The King of Siam lauded H. Armour Smith, noted historian and collector of Yonkers artifacts. Smith had found an article on Siam written in 1858 published in an issue of Ballou’s Weekly, an illustrated pre-Civil War magazine. The article, written by a seasoned seaman, told of the ship’s landing at Bangkok and the sailor’s impression of the lives of the Siamese people, including mining and fishing industries. The King planned to put the article with its woodcuts on display in the Siamese National Museum.
Tuesday, June 16th:
June 16, 1914: Captain Harry Haff was appointed sailing master of Alexander Smith Cochran’s cup defense sloop, The Vanitie. Haff’s father had sailed three America’s Cup defenders, Volunteer, Vigilant and Defender.
June 16, 1923:A band of 138 Gypsies, camping for weeks near the Saw Mill River on Nepera Park Gold Mine Company property, suddenly left the camp, gathering their members and belongings into 12 large touring cars. While camped, they bathed and washed their clothes in the Saw Mill River daily.
June 16, 1931: Otis Elevator Company Goods Manager Robert Goodwille announced the plant would operate four days a week and affect all employees in all departments. A few departments already had shortened their workday by two hours. Goodwille said he believed the change would be in force only for ashort while.
Wednesday, June 17th:
June 17, 1890:The Palisade Boat Club, founded in 1866, had a “housewarming” of its new home in Glenwood. Although its location on the river changed several times over the years, the club simply moved its clubhouse. It is the oldest continuous boat club in New York State, the third oldest boat club in America, and the oldest boat club “in its original structure” in America.
June 17, 1930: Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers awarded its first diplomas to 113 women; eleven graduated with honors, while 44 completed “alpha contracts.” Doris Smith, the only Yonkers resident among the graduates, received hers with honors!
June 17, 1944: Lieutenant General Millard Harmon, Commander of the US Army Forces in the South Pacific, presented the Oak Leaf Cluster to Second Lieutenant Joseph Feke of Riverdale Avenue. Feke, a bombardier serving with the 13th AAF, received the award for his meritorious achievement in “sustained combat operational missions of a hazardous nature during which enemy opposition was met.”
Thursday, June 18th:
June 18, 1914: Alexander Smith Cochran’s cup-defense sloop, The Vanitie, took an hour’s sail on Long Island Sound. Afterwards, top Long Island skipper Captain Willis was hired as an assistant to Sailing Master Haff.
June 18, 1945: Former Yonkers Post Office employee James Wilson of Palisade Avenue wrote to The Herald Statesman. Serving as Mailman Third Class on a cruiser somewhere in the South Pacific, he said, was a lot of work, but he liked nothing better than distributing huge amounts of mail. The reactions of servicemen receiving mail after weeks of sea duty in dangerous territory were just plain morale boosting; reactions from those who received no mail were disheartening. His recommendation for the people of Yonkers? “Write every chance you get.”
Friday, June 19th:
June 19, 1906: The Common Council adopted a resolution prohibiting the election of a Second Ward Alderman until the November vote, with one “No” vote cast against the measure by Alderman Cashin. The reasoning against a summer election was there was no money to pay for it and too many people were away during the summer to make it feasible to hold the election. Cashin stated the “If officials really wanted an election there, they could have raised the money in the recent tax levy.
June 19, 1926: Saying he was “sick and tired of the deal we get from public officials and city commissioners,” area resident George McGovern announced he would head up the fight against making the part of Hawthorne Avenue from Vark to St. Mary’s Street a play street. He felt play streets detracted from property values, even though Yonkers raised assessments annually.
June 19, 1927: Newly appointed City of Yonkers Psychiatrist Dr. William Dougherty stated 75% of criminals that wanted no punishment for their crimes by claiming insanity or neurotic disorders were faking!
Saturday, June 20th
June 20, 1926: The St. John’s Hospital Board scheduled a hearing for suspended intern Dr. Emanuel Kotsos. Kotsos had announced to the press he brought a suicide patient back to life by administering a shot of adrenalin after the patient’s heart had stopped beating. The board declared it was impossible, stated Kotsos was “carried away by his enthusiasm to make public announcement of his discovery,”, and the intern had no right to release the story without verification or permission from his superiors at the hospital.
June 20, 1934: A sailor, racing to the City Pier, attracted amused attention; he had no shoes, no hat and was holding a glass of beer! He called the sailor manning the helm of the shoreboat leaving for the USS Salt Lake City; it was the last boat to return to the cruiser before it sailed off. Three feet away from the pier, the sailor had to make it or be left behind. Holding on tightly to his glass, the seaman jumped the three feet, not spilling a drop, and happily finished his brew on the way to his ship.
Sunday, June 21st
June 21, 1907: John D. Rockefeller was fined $25 for speeding in Yonkers. The arresting officer, using a stopwatch to time the millionaire, found he was traveling 30 miles an hour. The officer stopped Rockefeller by stretching a rope across the road.
June 21, 1937: For the first time since 1931, the City of Yonkers was able to pay teachers and other Board of Education employees their full “vacation pay;” nearly 1,000 employees were paid $708,000 according to Comptroller James Hushion.
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