April 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A hundred years after the old City of Brooklyn was founded, this borough became today the seat of government of Greater New York. In honor of the centenary celebration, which will come to a climax Saturday with a parade, dinner and other community activity, Mayor [Fiorello] LaGuardia crossed the bridge — the Brooklyn Bridge — from City Hall to Borough Hall and established the city’s headquarters under the approving bronze face of Henry Ward Beecher. He came with his secretary, his clerical staff, his customary energy and the mayor’s flag, which fluttered from the mayoral car at the head of the procession and was set up beside his desk in Borough Hall. The desk and the office which the mayor made his own for the duration of his five-day stay in Brooklyn were those of Borough President [Raymond] Ingersoll, who, for the time being, found other quarters. And within ten minutes of his arrival, the transplanted Mayor LaGuardia had plunged into a series of interviews, conferences, all the details of the job of manning the business of a 7,000,000-population city, with much the same smoothness and efficiency that was customary on the other side of the East River. Officials and others from Manhattan had to cross the river to get the mayor’s ear and Brooklynites didn’t.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — The foreign ministers of 12 democratic nations chilled by Russia’s cold war signed the North Atlantic Treaty against armed attack today. The treaty would shatter the American tradition of avoiding European entanglements. It would recognize that the security of the United States is tied to the security of Western Europe. In large measure the North Atlantic Treaty would extend our frontiers to the Rhine, the Baltic and Mediterranean and, at one point in the far North, to the border of the Soviet Union. That is along the 100-odd miles where Russia borders Norway, a treaty member. This new democratic weapon of defense seeks to mass the military, economic and spiritual force of 332,000,000 Western people against aggression by the 255,354,000 people of Russia and her captive states … More persons may see and hear the ceremony than have seen or heard any previous human event. Television and unprecedented broadcasting arrangements assure that. For those abroad, the short waves here and in Europe are to tell the story in 43 languages.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.