June 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 19, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Although Brooklyn is one of the most progressive industrial sections of the country and is steadily expanding commercially, it is maintaining its place as the home boro of the metropolis. Its transit system — subways, elevated roads, trolley lines and bridges — makes it the most convenient place to live in for persons employed in all sections of New York City. The boro’s beautiful residential neighborhoods, Flatbush, Bay Ridge, Hill section, Dyker Heights and the Park Slope, with its park system, its churches, wide streets, boulevards, shopping centers and educational facilities, give it its character as a home center and establish its future prosperity. Brooklyn has more home owners in proportion to its population than any other section of the country. Following the World War, governmental aid was advocated by statesmen who realized that the interests of good government are advanced in proportion to the number of additional home owners in a city because the home owner naturally makes the best type of citizen. Hundreds of former residents of Manhattan have come here from congested neighborhoods and purchased homes, convinced that it is the proper place to bring up a family. Brooklyn accepts gracefully, yes, proudly, the gibe that it is the community of baby carriages.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “Seventy-five pilots and 300 mechanics and clerks went on strike early today against United Air Lines at LaGuardia Field, as part of a nation-wide strike of several thousand workers against the lines. United Air Lines operations were halted at LaGuardia, 24 outgoing and 26 incoming flights for the day being called off. There were eight pickets, four in front of the United Air Lines hangar and four in front of the administration building. Flights were canceled, too, at Chicago, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, San Francisco and other points. Hundreds of would-be passengers were stranded at airports throughout the nation, and United transferred them to other air lines, trains or hotels. The strike was announced in a statement from Chicago by David L. Behncke, president of the A.F.L. Air Line Pilots’ Association. It culminated lengthy negotiations between the company and the A.L.P.A. on the pilots’ demands that they be paid on a mileage rather than an hourly basis. In a statement, also issued in Chicago, W.A. Patterson, U.A.L. president, said that the line had agreed to pay increases for pilots and co-pilots, but ‘would not concede demands for mileage limitations which, in effect, would lower the present maximum of 85 flying hours per month.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “A piano recital will be presented by the pupils of Edith May Rohrs tomorrow at 8:15 p.m. at the Parkville Congregational Church parish house, 18th Ave. and E. 5th St. Among the participants will be Anita Ross, Roy Gordon, Leslie Gordon, Marc Edelstein, Norman Obst, George Obst, Mark Levine, Rodney Leathers, Barbara Streisand, Andrea Arnaud, Susan Advocate, Hally Pankin, Carol Norman, Greta Boxer, Joann Voraski, Brian Pellicano, Leonard Zaslow, Antoinette L. Savarese, Mary Hershberger, Paulette Archambault and Bonnie Leathers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (UPI) — Buckingham Palace denied a London newspaper report that Prince Charles, heir to the throne, drank cherry brandy in a hotel bar at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis Monday night. A palace spokesman said: ‘The story (reported by the Daily Telegraph yesterday) is completely untrue. We have made inquiries into this and this was not the situation at all.’ The Telegraph quoted a barmaid as saying the Prince had the drink when he dined at the hotel with four other boys from Gordonstoun School. Drinking regulations in Scotland set a minimum age of 18 for drinks without meals and 16 for certain alcoholic beverages served with food.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winning actress Gena Rowlands, who was born in 1930; “Midnight’s Children” author Salman Rushdie, who was born in 1947; “A Raisin in the Sun” star Phylicia Rashad, who was born in 1948; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ann Wilson (Heart), who was born in 1950; “Peggy Sue Got Married” star Kathleen Turner, who was born in 1954; pop star and original “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul, who was born in 1962; radio and TV host Laura Ingraham, who was born in 1963; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was born in 1964; “Unforgettable” star Poppy Montgomery, who was born in 1972; “The Mentalist” star Robin Tunney, who was born in 1972; “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Zoe Saldana, who was born in 1978; and N.Y. Mets pitcher and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, who was born in 1988.

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AT LAST: Today is Juneteenth. On this day in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, Union general and commander of the Dept. of Texas Gordon Granger issued Order Number 3, which informed 250,000 slaves in the state of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 that freed them. Although it took months for all Texas slaves to hear the news, the date of Granger’s alert became a statewide date of celebration. It was declared a federal holiday in 2021.

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IRON MAN: Lou Gehrig was born on this day in 1903. The New York City native made his debut with the New York Yankees in 1923. Together with Babe Ruth, the slugging first baseman personified the powerful Yankees lineup known as “Murderers’ Row.” He earned the nickname “The Iron Horse” for playing in 2,130 consecutive games, a streak stopped by illness. Stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — later known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — he retired in May 1939 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame the same year by special election. He died on June 2, 1941.

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

Quotable:

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.”

— author Salman Rushdie, who was born on this day in 1947