By Mary Hoar, President Untermyer Performing Arts Council, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society
Monday, August 3rd
August 3, 1936: Three hundred people, representing fifty Westchester organizations, gathered in Larkin Plaza for a “Peace Rally and Parade.”
August 3, 1944: Henry Hollopeter, a city worker in the Water Bureau, received a letter from his nephew, Corporal Al McNaul, US Army. The corporal, serving in France, was delighted to tell his uncle the men all were drinking coffee prepared by the American Dietaids Company at 276 South Broadway in Yonkers!
August 3, 1950: Yonkers Third Ward Supervisor Corydon Dunham announced his resolution to create a Westchester-Yonkers Civil Defense Area; it would provide underground “radio-active-proof” Air Raid Shelters that allow cars to park in Yonkers and other Westchester cities during an air raid. County Executive Herbert Gerlach rejected the idea a few days later.
Tuesday, August 4th
August 4, 1931: Patrolman Edward Kristan and Caretaker George Maudlin arrested two NYC youths for swimming in the Grassy Sprain Reservoir. It seems the two boys only had one suit between them!
August 4, 1944: Private First Class Sterling Wildey of Yonkers was doing his war duty right here in the US, serving as an Army military police officer at a Midwest prisoner of war camp. Like many of our servicemembers, he wrote the Herald Statesman about what he was doing, and said he had “just delivered 700 desuped supermen in good (?) condition.” Although he did not state it, he hinted they were German prisoners captured in the Mediterranean and Normandy area.
Wednesday, August 5th
August 5, 1914: The Hollywood Inn inaugurated its new bowling alleys with a special tournament for duckpin bowlers. Duckpin balls are smaller without finger holes. Duckpins are shorter and lighter, and it is difficult to get a strike. Bowlers roll the ball three times each frame because it is difficult knocking down the duckpins.
August 5, 1921: To enable motormen operating trolley cars to operate a car without stopping, a new electric switch was installed in Getty Square. The operators no longer had to get off the car to “throw the switch” by hand bar.
August 5, 1976: Twenty-two year old John Travolta arrived at the Westchester State Theater on Palmer Road in Yonkers. He was to begin his run in the play Bus Stop, playing the role of Bo Decker. The Westchester State Theater rented the facilities at Burroughs Junior High School, now Saunders High School.
Thursday, August 6th
August 6, 1916: After the twentieth case of polio was reported in Yonkers, the Westchester County Board of Supervisors allocated $30,000 to establish an emergency hospital in East View specifically for infantile paralysis.
August 6, 1926: Instead of meeting for luncheon in the Elks Club, the Yonkers Rotary Club met at Camp Collins, the new Boy Scout Camp in the Peekskill area. They inspected the camp, swam, and then ate a typical Boy Scout meal.
August 6, 1953: Mayor Kristen Kristensen appointed Frances Francis of Bushey Avenue to the Yonkers Board of Education, the first African American trustee. Mrs. Francis left school before graduation and returned after thirteen years of marriage to Roland Francis. She not only earned her academic diploma from Roosevelt High School, she studied at NYU and later became a licensed nurse.
Friday, August 7th
August 7, 1916: The longest trolley strike in Yonkers history ended when union and company officials reached an agreement after 17 days. The agreement required both sides to meet by August 20th to discuss wage and working conditions, and specified employees had the right to organize and bargain collectively.
August 7, 1926: A bond was cemented between boys at Leake & Watts and members of the Yonkers Chapter, Order of De Molay, when members of the Yonkers De Molay Chapter were guests at the Leake and Watts Camp at Tivoli. De Molay is an international fraternal organization for boys aged 12 through 21 whose goal is to develop young men into better leaders.
August 7, 1941: The Yonkers Branch of the Workmen’s Sick and Death Benefit Fund of the United States announced their national organization purchased $30,000 of United States Defense Bonds. Yonkers Branch 3, started in 1885 by German-American workers who emigrated because of Bismarck’s anti-labor laws, was formed just one year after the national organization. Although nonpolitical, they were one of the first German-American organizations to voice opposition to Nazism, Fascism and all forms of dictatorship.
Saturday, August 8th
August 8, 1872: George Frazier came to the aid of the many thirsty souls of Yonkers by installing a temporary pump at the Main Street well.
August 8, 1922: YPD officers Harry Wilson and John Van Metter chased two deer that appeared at Warburton and Lamartine Avenues to the Greystone Estate. Although equipped with rope lariats, they were unable to catch them. The deer then headed to an apartment house on Woodworth Avenue, where the officers did manage to trap them. The officers thought the duo had come from the game reservation on Billie Burke’s Hastings estate.
August 8, 1942: After coming from behind on the twelfth count, Democrat Thomas Sheridan was elected to fill the seat of former Councilman Al Richter after he joined the US Navy. City Clerk Francis Heafy swore him into office.
Sunday, August 9th
August 9, 1920: Lieutenant W. J. Maxwell, US Army, came to Yonkers to give out 500 Victory medals to Yonkers men whose World War service merited this honor.
August 9, 1940: Tommy Abbatiello, “Flying Barber of Lake Avenue,” received his pilot’s license from the US Department of Commerce, and announced he was ready to serve in the new US defense program. Sadly, Staff Sergeant Gaetano “Tommy” Abbatiello was listed as killed in action May 24th 1944 in Germany. A ball turret gunner on a B-17, he is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial.
For more information on the Yonkers Historical Society, membership, Sherwood House and our upcoming events, please call 914-961-8940 or email yhsociety@aol.com.
