May 21: ON THIS DAY in 1927, Lindbergh reaches Ireland

May 21, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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ON THIS DAY IN 1883, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Yesterday morning in the Second Unitarian Church, corner of Clinton and Congress streets, the pastor, the Rev. John W. Chadwick, delivered a discourse entitled ‘The Completed Bridge.’ Mr. Chadwick said: ‘The deities of ancient Rome were so many personified abstractions. One of them was Terminus, the god of bounds. The beginnings and the endings of all important enterprises were his peculiar care. If we today were living under that old regime, how would his altars smoke! For we have come to the completion of the greatest civic enterprise in which our municipal energy has ever been engaged. Before we gather here again, our insularity will be broken up, it has been broken up already, the art of man has joined together what God had put asunder and there is no more sea, but ere another week is past, with formal speech and noise of cannon and pageantry, of flags and soldierly parade, the Brooklyn Bridge will take its place among the great conveniences of modern life.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle reported, “Paris, May 21 (AP) – France was waiting with bated breath today for the first signs of the gallant [Charles] Lindbergh when he nears the close of his lonely flight from New York to Paris … There was genuine relief when the cables announced he had negotiated successfully the first stage of his adventurous trip and headed out over the ocean from Newfoundland. There is no doubt he will get a welcome such as is vouchsafed few visitors to France. The ordeal of the entertainments prepared for him will be only less than that of crossing the Atlantic. Having seen to it that everything possible had been done to guide Lindbergh after he reaches the French coast, by means of signals and powerful searchlights, the authorities were completing arrangements today, aided by the military, to handle record crowds which will flock to Le Bourget flying field to witness the landing.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who boasted he would dictate peace terms in the White House, died in aerial combat, Radio Tokio disclosed today in broadcasts suggesting that the foremost Japanese naval commander was killed, possibly by Americans, while directing a South Pacific battle. The broadcasts did not fix specifically how the 59-year-old commander-in-chief of Japan’s fleet was killed except that it was on a ‘foremost front’ and that Yamamoto, a flier, had gone up to lead the fight himself. A Tokio report heard in Chungking fixed the approximate place and said the time was mid-April … Yamamoto was chief of the Japanese fleet from which the fliers embarked to pull the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that sent Japan and the United States into war.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Brooklyn’s mammoth 2,632-room Hotel St. George, one of the largest hotels in the nation, was sold last week … Title passed from a group of stockholders and Bing & Bing, operating agents, to a group of investors headed by Milton Kestenberg, an attorney, of 220 W. 42nd St., Manhattan. He is also a real estate operator. The purchase price could not be learned but the assessed valuation of the hotel is $6,825,000. It was one of the biggest real estate operations in recent years in Brooklyn. The hotel is one of the oldest in Brooklyn and it was built in five sections. The latest addition was opened in 1930 and made it the second largest hotel in the country at the time.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “The Glee Club of Bishop Kearney High School will present its Second Annual Spring Concert tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the school auditorium. This event will also herald the debut of the newly formed student orchestra under the direction of Sister Mary Richard and Mr. Grecco. The program will include three vocal solos, a violin solo and a piano duet, as well as a special arrangement of ‘America, the Beautiful,’ performed by the combined glee club and orchestra. The price of admission will be one dollar; tickets can be purchased only through the school.”