By Mary Hoar, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, September 20th
September 20, 1935: Board of Education Trustee Dr. Oscar Bohn, former president of the Yonkers Academy of Medicine, announced legally, schools were not allowed to engage in “any medical procedures, preventative or curative.” He said this meant our school diphtheria immunization clinics were illegal. This raised the question as to the legality of some of the other medical services offered by the schools.
September 20, 1952: Ed Durham, Head groundskeeper of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, met with parents from Beech Hill School Twenty-Six to discuss and advise parents on laying out a baseball diamond on school grounds, a project funded by the School 26 PTA. Why did the head man from Ebbets Field travel to Yonkers? Emil (Buzzie) Bavasi of Wyndcliff Road not only was dad of School 26 fifth grader Peter, he was Executive Vice President of the Brooklyn Dodgers! Tuesday, September 21st:
September 21, 1935: Dr. D. F. Smiley, the NY State Education Department Director of Health and Physical Education, strong rebutted School Trustee Dr. Oscar Bohn’s assertion school immunization clinics were illegal. Smiley stated, “There is no law which forbids immunization clinics in the schools, provided parents consent.”
September 21, 1936: Sounds of romance filled Larkin Plaza early in the morning. Two couples parked their car; one couple sat on the running board; the fellow pulled his harmonica and began playing “Love Is Everywhere.” The other couple immediately began dancing, waltzing all around the plaza… at 12:25 am!
Wednesday, September 22nd
September 22, 1934: An air raid from the west halted the Pelton Field Baseball game between the Eighth Warders and the Irwins! Hundreds of the 10,000 fans packing the grandstand, bleachers and standing room areas around the field rushed onto the field during the fifth inning trying to get away from the huge swarm of flying ants, halting the game. The umpire officially called time out, while most of the brave fans began smoking, handing lit cigarettes to children in an attempt to drive off the insects hovering over the field. After 15 minutes, the attack ended as quickly as it started. The insects flew away and the game resumed. The Eighths won the game, 10-3. Afterwards, Boyce Thompson entomologist Albert Hartzell was called in to identify the perpetrators, but no specimens were left for him to study.
September 22, 1945: Lieutenant June McElwaine, an Army Nurse who received her training at the Yonkers General Hospital School of Nursing, was featured on the cover of Liberty Magazine as “Flying Angel of Mercy!” Before entering the Army, McElwaine had been a member of the Yonkers General Nursing staff.
Thursday, September 23rd
September 23, 1911: Alderman Frederick Stilwell, acting at the request of members of the DeWitt Taxpayers and Bronx Manor Association, asked the City Engineer to start preliminary work to erect a bridge over the Bronx River on Palmer to connect Yonkers streets with Bronxville.
September 23, 1912: The American Real Estate Company sold homes in the Park Hill neighborhood to playwright Owen Davis and his attorney brother William.
September 23, 1927: More than 100 people in cars and on foot searched Yonkers for four missing boys. After a seven-hour search, the boys were found asleep in the Monastery of the Sacred Heart on Shonnard Place, just a few hundred feet from their homes.
Friday September 24th
September 24, 1905: A staff of 25 people were hired for the new Park Hill Inn opening on the grounds just south of the Park Hill station of the Putnam Railroad. The three-story building had 36 bedrooms, reception rooms, a
arge banquet hall, a grill, dining room and a barbershop. Experienced hoteliers J. F. Deering and M. W. Van Tassell were to manage the Inn; the Inn had special accommodations for automobile parties including a gasoline pump installed close to the Inn.
September 24, 1947: J. W. Studebaker, United States Superintendent of Schools, selected Yonkers Schools Superintendent Benjamin Willis to serve on the new ten-member Commission on Life Adjustment Education for Youth. Their task was to design a realistic program for students who did not want to continue their education in either college or vocational programs.
Saturday September 25th
September 25, 1914: Carl Wiederhold, Sr., longtime resident and former glue manufacturer passed away at his Linden Street home at the age of 85 At one time, his glue, manufactured in his factory on Yonkers Avenue, was considered to be one of the best in the country, and it was feared he took his recipe for making excellent glue to the grave.
September 25, 1932: Trans-Atlantic flyer Captain Lewis Yancey of Yonkers set a new world record; he reached an altitude of 21,500 feet in an autogiro, the predecessor of a helicopter, breaking the record set by Amelia Earhart (18,415 feet) the year before.
Champion Spark Plug Company purchased an autogiro in 1931 they named Miss Champion; they hired Yancey to fly it on a publicity tour around the country. Besides traveling around the US, he went down to Mexico and used the unique flight characteristics of Miss Champion to aid an archaeological exploration of the Mayan pyramids. This became a publicity dream for Champion as it got international attention for its sponsorship of this research.
Sunday, September 26th
September 26, 1906: The Board of Police Commissioners issued an order to stop all patrolmen and roundsmen from using YPD horses and wagons for joy riding!
September 26, 1916: When Yonkers truck drivers threatened to walk out in sympathy with striking trolley drivers, Yonkers imbibers realized they may have a beer shortage! Local bartenders said they would not accept any deliveries from nonunion drivers.
September 26, 1926: The Corporation Counsel ruled owners of property bordering Nepperhan Creek were responsible for the cost of cleaning the stream. If not done, the city would do the work and then sue owners for the cost.
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For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit its website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com.
