By Mary Hoar, President Emerita Yonkers Historical Society and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, May 23rd
May 23, 1937: The Cook American Legion Post Color Guard won the $1000 silver Championship Cup of Greater New York for the second time. Members of the winning unit were Commander Charles Hoffman, J. Alvin Ross, Guy LeFevre, Charles Perry and John Vicrow. Competing against 70 other units in the Hotel Pennsylvania grand ballroom, they were were judged on appearance, uniforms, marching evolutions and equipment; if Cook Post won the event a third time, they would have permanent possession of the cup.
May 23, 1940: At the request of City Manager Whitney, Health Commissioner Eugene Gillian began investigating the Health Department’s positions of Vital Statistics Registrar and Deputy Registrar. The two salaries totaled $3,840, but annual income they generated was only $1,242. In order to make the jobs “self supporting,” Whitney wanted to know if the fees charged were too low or if there was not enough work for two positions. Francis Fede was Registrar and Mary Mahoney was Deputy Register.
Tuesday, May 24th
May 24, 1940: Water Superintendent Michael J. Harmonay turned his plumbing business over to his children; they dissolved the company and formed a new business, Michael Harmonay Corporation. Directors of the new company were his daughter Mary, son William and daughter-in-law Eveline.
May 24, 1945: Colonial Parkway resident Dr. Rafael Lopez represented Venezuela at the San Francisco Conference (United Nations Conference on International Organization). A Yonkers physician, Lopez had fled his native country in 1923 to escape the wrath of the late dictator Juan Vicente Gomez. Lopez briefly returned to Venezuela in 1937 to serve as Minister of Education; he later was the Venezuelan Commissioner General to the World’s Fair and represented the country culturally since the fair, according to his daughter.
Wednesday, May 25th
May 25, 1923: Dubbed “one of the greatest musical events in the history of Yonkers,” world famous contralto Madame 20220523 appeared at a concert held in the North Broadway Armory by the Central M. E. Church.
May 25, 1947: Saunders star right-handed pitcher Steve Ridzik held the Roosevelt High School Indians to one hit, shutting them out 10-0. Ridzik transferred to Roosevelt the next year, and left for spring training right after the 1948 season’s last game. Signed by the Phillies at the age of 16, he made his major league pitching debut September 4, 1950. He played for 5 teams in all: Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Redlegs, NY Giants, Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators. His major career began and ended with the Phillies in 1966. He also played Winter League Baseball in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.
Thursday, May 26th
May 26, 1893: Maria Eulalia Francisca de Asis Margarita Roberta Isabel Francizca de Paula Cristina Maria de la Piedad, or the Infanta Eulalia of Spain, sailed to Yonkers on the steamship Dophin. She was taken ashore in a small launch that landed on the pier; a large crowd had been waiting to see here for three hours. She entered a carriage and was taken quickly to the hotel, where the Princess had dinner with her entourage. She had come to the US to visit the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the New World.
May 26, 1928: Viola Baker of Covent Avenue had her wealthy California rancher husband Harry Baker arrested as he was about to leave the country with a woman he claimed was his second wife. Harry Baker, brother of Yonkers Assistant Fire Chief William Baker, was detained as the “all ashore” bugle was sounding on the SS Baltic. Believing he was dead because of assurances from his family, she read a social note in a New York newspaper announcing Baker was leaving for a tour of Europe. She had not seen him since 1897 when she charged him with taking their son Glendon from heron the basis of an arrest order from Justice Schmuck, Baker was locked up in the County Jail, claiming he had gotten a divorce in White Plains.
Friday, May 27th
May 27, 1921: The Yonkers YMCA unveiled a tablet in memory of their members who perished in the World War. Chairman of the Mayor’s Honor Roll Committee Admiral Purnell Harrington chaired.
May 27, 1922: St. Joseph Avenue resident Michael Ahearn had his fifteen minutes of fame when he climbed the flagstaff in front of Yonkers City Hall to successfully repair the broken halyard; several other men had tried. Ahearn, a member of Yonkers’ tree gang, previously had worked as an ironworker.
Saturday, May 28th
May 28, 1922: James McCann, owner of the McCann Storage Warehouse in Mill Street, purchased the property at 13 Main Street on the corner of Mill, the former plant of The Yonkers Statesman, from the Yonkers Publishing Company. He paid $70,000 for the building.
May 28, 1932: First Lieutenant Frederick Hopkins of Riverdale Avenue was assigned to Wright Field Air Corps in Ohio, to serve as Assistant Commandant of its Air Corps Engineering School.
Sunday, May 29th
May 29, 1779: Sir Henry Clinton made his headquarters in the Manor House to plan the attacks on Verplank and Stony Point.
May 29, 1935: Mrs. D. Leigh Colvin, State President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, told women attending an all-day workshop the old saloon was preferable to the current social or “fashionable” drinking.
May 29, 1955: Yonkers announced the planned expansion of the Grassy Sprain Reservoir by at least 20,000,000 gallons. At the time, it was one of Yonkers’ main sources of water.
Questions or comments? 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 yhsociety@aol.com.
