History Brooklyn Boro

MILESTONES: July 20, birthdays for Gisele Bündchen, Enrique Pena Nieto, Julianne Hough

July 20, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Gisele Bündchen. AP Photo/David Goldman
Gisele Bündchen. AP Photo/David Goldman
Share this:

Greetings, Brooklyn.  Today is the 201st day of the year.

On this day in 1937, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “It was in Brooklyn that Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless, found the sympathy and financial backing which enabled him to give his epochal invention to the world. Old Brooklyn friends, including Elisha Whipple McGuire, of 147 Lefferts Place, senior partner of the law firm of McGuire, Horner and Smith, remember how Marconi, who died today, came to Brooklyn about 1900. The first place in the country where Marconi was made welcome and persuaded to sit down and tell the story of his remarkable invention to a sympathetic audience was in the home of the late Charles H. Dow, of Dow, Jones & Co., at 163 Lefferts Place. It was Mr. Dow who made possible the floating of the Marconi stock to finance the wireless invention.”

****

Subscribe to our newsletters

On this day in 1842, the Eagle quoted the Barre Gazette: “The following is said to be an approved method of killing fleas: Place the animal on a smooth board and pen him in with a circular hedge of shoemaker’s wax, then as soon as he becomes quiet, commence reading to him the doings of Congress during the present session, and in five minutes he will burst with indignation.”

***

On this day in 1903, the Eagle reported, “The news of the pope’s death came as a shock to many of the priests in Brooklyn in spite of the unfavorable reports that were issued this morning over his sinking condition. It was the general impression that the sovereign pontiff would rally once more and cheat death for a while longer. It was the Eagle that first made known the death of the Pope to many of the priests, all of whom expressed their sincere regret and spoke in terms of endearment of the late Pope.” The Right Rev. Mgr. James L. Duffy of St Agnes’ Church said, “Pope Leo was the greatest man of the century, an honor to the papacy and the pride of the Catholic Church today.”

***

On this day in 1944, the Eagle reported, “London, July 20 (UP) — The official German News Agency DNB announced today that Adolf Hitler and 12 of his top military and naval collaborators were injured today in an attempt on the Fuehrer’s life when a bomb exploded at the Fuehrer’s headquarters. DNB listed Hitler’s injuries as slight burns, bruises and a light concussion of the brain … The official Germany news agency dispatch indicated the explosion was at Hitler’s headquarters — one of the most closely guarded places in the entire world — and that the intended victims included not only Hitler and some of his top commanders, but also Benito Mussolini, premier of the so-called Republican Fascist Government of Northern Italy.”

***

On July 22, 1917, the Eagle reported, “Though the fact that the United States is at war with Germany has caused a modification of the plans somewhat, New York City is nevertheless to have a big celebration lasting three days in October to mark the completion of the Catskill Aqueduct, an event of such extraordinary importance to New York that it is not to be allowed to pass unnoticed. In magnitude the municipal work rivals the construction of the subways. It has been completed within the original estimate of expense and within contract time, and as an engineering feat it is the greatest accomplishment of its kind in history and a monument to American genius.

It was also reported, “It has come to pass. How women will be pressed into service to fill positions now held by men was demonstrated yesterday at Bush Terminal, at the foot of Forty-third Street. It was only a rehearsal for possible scenes to be brought about through war conditions. Fresh from their ordinary positions as stenographers, billers and tabulators, etc., a dozen pretty girls, employees of the concern, posed before the camera yesterday afternoon in the role of longshoremen, engineers, tractor drivers, lamp trimmers and what not.”

***

On July 22, 1955, the Brooklyn Spectator reported, “Dodger fans by the thousands will be on hand at Ebbets Field tonight to honor Harold ‘Pee Wee’ Reese, all-time great Brooklyn shortstop, and a resident of Bay Ridge for the past five years. Reese, who resides in a five-room house on Barwell Terrace near the shore during the baseball season, will be feted in ceremonies which will last for half an hour preceding the scheduled Brooklyn-Milwaukee [Braves] game. The celebration, which will begin at 8 o’clock, is designed as a birthday party for Pee Wee, who will be 36 years old tomorrow.”

****

NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include basketball player Ray Allen, who was born in 1975; model Gisele Bündchen, who was born in 1980; singer and songwriter Kim Carnes, who was born in 1946; artist and feminist Judy Chicago, who was born in 1939; actor John Daley, who was born in 1985; hockey player Pavel Datsyuk, who was born in 1978; actress Donna Dixon, who was born in 1957; hockey manager and former player Peter Forsberg, who was born in 1973; actor Josh Holloway, who was born in 1969; “Dancing With the Stars” dancer Julianne Hough, who was born in 1988; actor and singer Sally Ann Howes, who was born in 1930; author Cormac McCarthy, who was born in 1933; U.S. Sen. Barbara Ann Mikulski, who was born in 1936; President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, who was born in 1966; Hall of Fame soccer player Claudio Reyna, who was born in 1973; Tony Award-winning actress Diana Rigg, who was born in 1938; musician Carlos Santana, who was born in 1947; and actor Dean Winters, who was born in 1964.

****

THE GENEVA ACCORDS WERE SIGNED ON THIS DAY IN 1954. The ceasefire that ended the First Indochina War was signed in Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of the commanders in chief of French forces at Vietnam and the People’s Army of Vietnam. A further declaration of the Geneva Conference was released on July 21, 1954. Among the provisions of the agreement were partition, foreign troop withdrawal and elections for a unified government within two years.

****

SIR EDMUND PERCIVAL HILLARY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1919. The explorer and mountaineer, along with Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide, became the first to ascend the summit of Mount Everest in May 1953. Hillary died in New Zealand in 2008.

****

TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE LOCUST PLAGUE OF 1874. Long a pest in the American Midwest, the Rocky Mountain locust became an even bigger threat in the summer of 1874. Beginning in late July, the largest recorded swarm of this insect descended on the Great Plains. It is estimated that 124 billion insects formed a swarm 1,800 miles long and 110 miles wide that ranged from Canada and the Dakotas down to Texas. Contemporary accounts said that the locusts blocked out the sun and devastated farms in mere minutes. The swarms continued in smaller size for the next several years and caused an estimated $200 million in crop destruction.

****

TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST-EVER SPECIAL OLYMPICS. In 1968, the International Special Olympics Competition was held in Illinois as an international year-round program of sports training and competition for individuals with intellectual disabilities. More than 3.5 million athletes in more than 170 countries train and compete in 32 Olympic-style summer and winter sports. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics provides people with disabilities continuing opportunities to develop fitness, demonstrate courage and experience joy as they participate in the sharing of gifts and friendship with other athletes, their families and the community.

****

Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

 

****

“It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people can’t be governed at all. Or if they could I never heard of it.” — Cormac McCarthy, who was born on this day in 1933

 


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment