December 17: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 17, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1897, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mayor [Frederick] Wurster today sent out letters to about a hundred prominent citizens, asking them to confer with himself and the Society of Old Brooklynites at his office tomorrow afternoon, in relation to the proposed celebration of the end of Brooklyn’s existence as a separate municipality. In his letter, the Mayor said: ‘I have been requested to hold a public reception in the City Hall to commemorate the end of the official life of Brooklyn as a city, and I would like to have a committee of well-known citizens to cooperate with the Society of Old Brooklynites in the proper observance of the occasion.’ … The scheme for the celebration is in brief this: The City Hall will be thrown open early in the evening, December 31, and the people will be formally received by the ex-mayors of Brooklyn, of whom there are seven. Between 8 and 9 o’clock an adjournment will be made to the Common Council Chamber, in which seats will be arranged for 500 or 600 … At 12 o’clock the City Hall bell will ring out the old year and the City of Brooklyn, and ring in 1898 and the Borough of Brooklyn.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1922, the Eagle reported, “BOSTON, DEC. 16 — Who ever thought of the New England winter as bleak, cold and inhospitable? He was all wrong — for now it is the most joyous season of all the year. The tang of frost in the air, the dancing diamonds of the frosted snow, like a mammoth frosted cake; the great frozen sheets of glass ice, the perfume of balsam-laden air, all combine to make winter just the most delightful season in the New England sports paradise, and small wonder that this season, beginning with the Christmas holidays, such an invasion is planned as was never known before. Not only from New England will they come, these sports lovers, but from New York, the Southern States and even some from the far South and West.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Quonset hut developments in a 100-acre tract in Canarsie, 20 acres in Ulmer Park, Gravesend, more than 100 acres of Idlewild Airport property and a large area in the North Bronx were envisioned today as the city’s solution to the housing problem for veterans and their families. Suggestion that 5,000 of the rounded-roof metal huts, used in the Aleutians and the Pacific Islands by the services, be acquired by the city for temporary housing came in a comprehensive report prepared by Mayor-elect William O’Dwyer’s Emergency Committee on Housing. The report, which estimated the Quonset hut developments, to house 10,000 families, would cost about $26,000,000 was studded with other proposals for easing the housing crisis … In all, the report accounted, through its various proposals, for housing 43,000 families, or 140,000 persons, in temporary dwelling units until permanent homes can be provided.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, DEC. 16 (U.P.) — Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters said today Christmas gifts will be distributed not only to dependent children and military hospitals in the Far East, but to fighting troops in Korea. The date of delivery of presents in Korea will depend on the tactical situation at the time, a spokesman said. MacArthur’s headquarters, in a message to the Pentagon here, said more than 500,000 pounds of Christmas gifts from the United States organizations are expected to be delivered in the Far East command in time for distribution on Christmas Day. Gifts for United States and United Nations personnel in Far East hospitals will be distributed by the Red Cross. Military personnel and chaplains of the various services will handle the distribution of gift parcels in Korea and to Naval personnel in the fleet on duty in Korean waters, MacArthur’s headquarters said.”

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Ernie Hudson
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Milla Jovovich
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Avalon” star Armin Mueller-Stahl, who was born in 1930; Pope Francis, who was born in 1936; “Ghostbusters” star Ernie Hudson, who was born in 1945; “American Pie” star Eugene Levy, who was born in 1946; Oscar-winner Wes Studi, who was born in 1947; Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, who was born in 1949; “Independence Day” star Bill Pullman, who was born in 1953; former N.Y. Mets pitcher Bob Ojeda, who was born in 1957; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mike Mills (R.E.M.), who was born in 1958; “The Walking Dead” star Laurie Holden, who was born in 1969; “American Horror Story” star Sarah Paulson, who was born in 1974; “Saving Private Ryan” star Giovanni Ribisi, who was born in 1974; “Resident Evil” star Milla Jovovich, who was born in 1975; boxer Manny Pacquiao, who was born in 1978; and “Raising Hope” star Shannon Woodward, who was born in 1984.

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IN THE SPIRIT: “A Christmas Carol” was published on this day in 1843. The Charles Dickens classic was published in a print run of 6,000 copies that sold out in one week. By Jan. 6, 1844, an additional 2,000 were sold. The reformation of Ebenezer Scrooge has remained immensely popular.

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THE WRIGHT STUFF: On this day in 1903, after three years of experimentation with kites and gliders, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first documented successful powered and controlled flights of an airplane. The flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C., were sustained for less than one minute but represented the beginning of a new era in history.

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

Quotable:

“God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it.”

— Pope Francis, who was born on this day in 1936