By Mary Hoar, President Emerita Yonkers Historical Society and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday June 20th
June 20, 1903: The cornerstone for the new Carnegie Library being built in Washington Park was laid at 2:30 p.m. Afterwards, attendees were entertained at a public concert given by Murray’s Band.
June 20, 1914: Mrs. James Burns of Buena Vista Avenue jumped into action as soon as she spotted a canoe overturning in the Hudson River, capsizing by the swells from an excursion boat passing the National Sugar Refinery dock. Immediately she notified authorities, earning the gratitude of the three Yonkers men in the canoe, William Meehan, James White and John Manning.
June 20, 1922: Valentine’s Press published Henry Collins Brown’s new book titled “Old Yonkers 1646 to 1922 A Page of History,” to celebrate Yonkers 50 years as a city.
Tuesday, June 21st
June 21, 1901: F. Wilkins of Bashford Street was the first victim of smallpox in the City of Yonkers. He passed away at the City Hospital.
June 21, 1907: The German Odd Fellows purchased the home of James Courter, first Mayor of Yonkers, for $41,000 to use as a residence for old people.
June 21, 1927: People of Yonkers got the see the new Spirit of St. Louis-Lindbergh 10 cent airmail stamp when the Yonkers Post Office received 3,000 from Washington, DC. The stamp had been released in Washington three days earlier.
Wednesday, June 22nd
June 22, 1927: Well known automobile racer Barney Oldfield stopped by Yonkers Police Headquarters to visit his old friend Police Chief Quirk.
June 22, 1929: Escorted by a motor parade, hero George Fried was welcomed officially as a citizen of Yonkers by Mayor Fogarty. Captain Fried, who purchased a home in East Yonkers, directed the bad weather rescues of seamen from the British steamship Antinoe in 1926 and the Italian freighter Florida in 1929.
June 22, 1931: Patrolmen Samuel Kelly and Albert Liptack “raided” a card game with 75 cents in the kitty on the grounds of School Seven on Walnut Street. The money and two packs of cards were confiscated and the boys turned over to the custody of their parents.
Thursday June 23rd
June 23, 1911: After several trials, Gustave Segschneider of Yonkers lost a royalty suit against the Waring Hat Manufacturing Company. He patented a new brim-curling device while working for Waring; the company adopted and used it in their factory. After John Waring died in 1907, differences arose between the inventor and the new heads of the company, so Segschneider quit. He was trying to recover more than $33,000 in royalties he believed the company owed him.
June 23, 1921: The Yonkers Statesman became part of a new corporation formed by its merging with the Yonkers Daily News. The newly formed board members of the Yonkers Statesman and the Yonkers Daily News were Everett Adams, Charles Duell, George Edie, Arthur Lawrence, Arthur Maudlin, William Wallin and Elijah Yerks.
June 23, 1935: Because of its belief attacks against married women working were the opening shot in a campaign to send females “back to the home,” the Yonkers Business and Professional Women’s Club began a survey about why married women worked. The Club believed many women were supporting families, and they wanted the other reasons women worked to make their report complete.
Friday, June 24th
June 24, 1934: After an extended voyage from the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean and three weeks of exercises sharpening defenses of the Panama Canal, the USS Waters docked at the Mahlstedt Dock at the foot of Babcock Place. More than 5,000 residents visited the destroyer, showing our city’s interest in US Navy ships. After leaving Yonkers, she sailed to Newport for two months of tactical exercises. The ship served in World War I, and was decommissioned at the end of 1922. After several years of inactivity, Waters was recommissioned in 1930. In July 1933 it became a unit of Destroyer Division 5, Destroyer Squadron 2, Battle Force Destroyers. It received seven battle stars during World War II, was decommissioned again at the end of the war, and sold for scrap May 1946.
June 24, 1954: After Textile Workers Union of America members had been on strike for 10 days, the Board of Directors of the Alexander Smith Inc. claimed heavy company losses and announced its Yonkers’ plant would permanently close. Management claimed the Yonkers factory was the major factor in its overall losses. Operations in Brockton, Massachusetts; Greenville, Mississippi; and Philadelphia would continue. The company said they had streamlined production methods, consolidated some operations, closed and sold several buildings to other industries, such as Benson and Hedges, manufacturers of Parliament cigarettes.
Saturday, June 25th
June 25, 1924: After 14 families were forced to move, workers began converting the Windham Apartments at Riverdale and Hudson Street into a hotel for men only. Walter P. Getty owned the building.
June 25, 1931: Yonkers aviator Lucius Green and an unnamed companion were arraigned as rumrunners in Stamford Connecticut and charged with transporting liquor. Their plane was forced down on a field; responding police found a cargo of alleged wines and whiskeys in the cockpit.
June 25, 1955: After working as an OSS Agent and 82nd Airborne Division officer, Holland-born Dr. Arie D. Bestebreutje was ordained by the Presbytery of Westchester in Pelham’s Huguenot Memorial Church and served as Associate Pastor of the Asbury Methodist Church. Before the war, Bestebreutje studied Law in Holland.
Sunday June 26th
June 26, 1925: Newly-designated Italian Consular agent Lieutenant Guiseppe Brancucci was honored at a dinner held Yonkers Italians. The dinner was held at the Italian-American Club at 272 New Main Street.
June 26, 1930: The Navy dirigible Los Angeles passed over the City of Yonkers shortly before 8 a.m. as it headed north up the Hudson on a training flight over New York State. Based at Lakehurst NJ, the Los Angeles carried a crew of 34 men and 12 officers.
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.
