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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lismore, an estate on Hawthorne Avenue, was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Francis O\u2019Neill<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Municipal Historian, 1977 recipient of the Key to the City of Yonkers, President Emeritus Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board Member, Founder of Revolutionary Yonkers 250 and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council<\/p>\n
Monday, June 15th<\/p>\n
June 15, 1929:\u00a0 Twenty-two year old Yonkers aviatrix Dorothy Hart of Colgate Avenue had a \u201cminor air mishap\u201d while taking her first flying lesson upstate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She wanted to fly for a long time, so took advantage of her vacation from her job at Otis Elevator to spend time with an upstate uncle, a Superintendent of Consolidated Aircraft Company in Tonawanda! While there, she took her first lesson; the plane\u2019s throttle stuck!\u00a0 The plane suddenly dropped 2000 feet, but the instructor was able to correct the problem before it crashed.<\/p>\n
She did not lose her desire to fly.<\/p>\n
June 15, 1943:\u00a0 The Yonkers Women\u2019s Army Corps recruiting campaign kicked off with a bang!\u00a0 An Army trailer filled with WACs arrived in Getty Square; the WACs gave information and answered questions, they interviewed and enlisted Yonkers women on the spot.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, June 16th<\/p>\n
June 16, 1942: A sign put up in the Yonkers City Hall Rotunda was \u201cadorned\u201d with pictures of the sneering faces of Hirohito, Hitler and Mussolini!\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It was the kickoff of Yonkers\u2019 Scrap Rubber Collections!<\/p>\n
Yonkers people were donating every bit of scrap rubber they could find, from rubber office mats to car mats from city cars, to our Federal government.<\/p>\n
June 16, 1943:\u00a0 After eight months in Europe, the Memphis Belle was back in the States, the first combat bomber to fly back from England under its own power.<\/p>\n
Original crew member Staff Sergeant John Quinlan of Truman Avenue was on the plane when it landed at Washington National Airport. Chief of the Army Air Forces General Henry \u201cHap\u201d Arnold and Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson met the plane.\u00a0 The crew was given a short furlough to visit families; Quinlan not only visited his mom, he thrilled his neighborhood youth by spending time with them.\u00a0 Afterwards, the Memphis Belle crew went on a national War Bond and Stamp Sale Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wednesday, June 17th<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 June 17, 1890:\u00a0 The Palisade Boat Club, founded 1866, held a \u201chousewarming\u201d at its new location in Glenwood.\u00a0 Although its location changed a few times, each time the club simply moved its clubhouse on the Hudson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Palisade Boat Club is the oldest boat club in New York State, the third oldest boat club in the county\u2026 and the country\u2019s oldest boat club in its original building!<\/p>\n
June 17, 1935:\u00a0 New York press attended Judge Martin Fay\u2019s court to witness hearings for women who received summonses for wearing shorts on the streets of Yonkers!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fay sternly lectured four of the women, telling them \u201c\u2026to wear what people in Yonkers wear if you want to walk through our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fay discharged them with a warning after Slater would not sign a formal complaint; Slater believed a court appearance alone would teach the women a lesson.<\/p>\n
The fifth girl called Slater the night before and told him she would lose her job if she missed work.<\/p>\n
Thursday, June 18th<\/p>\n
June 18, 1935:\u00a0 The Common Council refused to pass Alderman William Slater\u2019s resolution, to direct Corporation Counsel Leonard McAneny to draft a law \u201cregulating the dress and attire of persons appearing on the streets in scanty costumes that offend the sense of propriety of the average normal person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much to the relief of McAneny, the Council\u2019s refusal relieved him of the duty of deciding what women in Yonkers could wear on our streets!<\/p>\n
June 19th<\/p>\n
June 19, 1903:\u00a0 Marie Grace Derickson, former Empire Theatre Stock Company member, married Francis O\u2019Neill at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral.\u00a0 Mr. and Mrs. O\u2019Neill lived at their Yonkers country home, Lismore, in Ludlow.\u00a0 A few years later, Yonkers bought their property with its wonderful views of the Hudson for a riverside park.\u00a0 The six-acre property, laid out as a tropical garden, included uplands and a water grant.<\/p>\n
June 19, 1937:\u00a0 Mayor Joseph Loehr formally announced he would run for a fourth term as Yonkers Mayor, putting to rest the rumors he would take a job at a New York City Financial company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday, June 20th<\/p>\n
June 20, 1944:\u00a0 The Jewish Community Center held a successful bond rally, thanks to the kisses of Conover model Candy Jones; she volunteered to kiss any male who purchased a \u201cpiece of victory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
First purchaser was grandfather Jacob Kessler, who bought a $500 bond; Mayor Curtiss Frank, bought a $1000 bond, and took advantage of Jones\u2019 offer.\u00a0 The auction top prize, a pair of stockings, went to a $10,000 bond purchaser; second prize, a bottle of brandy, went to a $5000 bond purchaser.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 June 20, 1945:\u00a0 NY State Parks Commissioner Robert Moses saved the Victory Gardens of Chandell Court residents (Caryl Avenue)!\u00a0 Unfortunately, their gardens behind Chandell Court actually were on Van Cortlandt Park property.\u00a0 Moses reversed the decision to tear up the residents\u2019 plots behind the building, while warning them the reversal only was for 1945.\u00a0 They could not plant gardens in 1946.<\/p>\n
The Yonkers\u2019 gardeners were pleased with the brief reprieve and pleased a NYC Parks Department worker replaced the tomato stakes pulled out two days earlier.<\/p>\n
Sunday, June 21st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
June 21, 1928:\u00a0 Officials from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research announced they were developing a public arboretum on a 300-acre tract they had purchased on a tract of land west of Sprain Road formerly Moneypenny Farm.\u00a0 It would have every kind of shrub, plant and tree that could be grown in our climate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The arboretum was to be laid out as a park, with the grounds open to the public.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any questions on this column, email yonkershistory1646@gmail.com.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, the Sherwood House Museum on Tuckahoe Road or their upcoming events, please visit their website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lismore, an estate on Hawthorne Avenue, was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Francis O\u2019Neill \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By Mary Hoar,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-265786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}