December 18: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 18, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1846, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “SLEIGHING. — Cling! cling! cling-a ling! go the bells along the streets of Brooklyn this morning — the bells of the sleighs, which have ‘seized the opportunity by the hair,’ and are to be seen and heard, of all sizes and qualities, and in every street! The East Brooklyn omnibuses turn out some prodigious vehicles — large enough to carry quite all the ‘Natives’ of Brooklyn and New York (which, however, is not saying much for their size) … The sleighing, though, is not the best in the world. The wind drifted the snow too much yesterday; and this morning it melts some.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1897, the Eagle reported, “The Skating Club of Brooklyn and the New Jersey Athletic Club hockey players opened the season for that interesting sport in this city at the Clermont Avenue Rink last night with a match game in which the Brooklynites won, 4 to 1. Brooklyn played with three of the members of the second team, but had no difficulty holding their opponents off. They were weak in offensive teamwork, but it is too early in the season to expect much of the players and the men most at fault were the substitutes on the team who forgot to play their positions in the excitement. Altogether, the Brooklynites bore out the reputation they made in their match against the Hockey Club of New York last week, between which team and the local one it is believed the championship of the league will stand this year.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Tremendous military needs for gasoline on fighting fronts forced the government to stop sale of gasoline today to the 7,000,000 private motorists in 17 states along the Atlantic seaboard. President Roosevelt, explaining the drastic action at a press conference, hoped that the ban on sale of gasoline to any motorists except commercial vehicles could be lifted in a day or two. The Office of Price Administration, which issued the order, said that time and extent of the ban would be determined by a survey of supplies. Petroleum Administrator [Harold] Ickes was making this survey today. Ickes indicated in Manhattan this afternoon that gasoline for pleasure driving, at least in the East, was out for the duration. ‘I think they — pleasure, or A-card, drivers — will have a hard job getting the gasoline they have been getting,’ he said.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “The Board of Transportation was faced today with wage and other demands by the Transport Workers Union, C.I.O., which, according to the board’s statisticians, would add $60,000,000 a year to the cost of operating the city transit system. The union delegation, headed by Michael J. Quill, international president, and Austin Hogan, New York local president, at a meeting in the board offices, 250 Hudson St., Manhattan, asked for a pay increase of 30 cents an hour for the 33,000 transit employees, a liberalized pension system, three weeks’ vacation after five years of service, 11 paid holidays, and putting into effect of the labor relations plan proposed by William H. Davis, former member of the board. The meeting, first held since William Reid succeeded Charles P. Gross as board chairman, was amicable in tone. It was learned that the three transit commissioners, Sidney H. Bingham and Frank X. Sullivan as well as Mr. Reid, repeated the warning of Mayor [William] O’Dwyer that no money would be available for increased pay without an increased subway fare. There was no criticism by the union of that view, giving support to recent reports that the T.W.U. would come out in support of a higher fare.”

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Charles Oakley
Kevin Coles/Wikimedia Commons

Christina Aguilera
Nick Stepowyj/Wikimedia Commons

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones), who was born in 1943; Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who was born in 1946; film critic Leonard Maltin, who was born in 1950; former White Lion drummer Greg D’Angelo, who was born in Brooklyn in 1963; former N.Y. Knicks forward Charles Oakley, who was born in 1963; Oscar-winner Brad Pitt, who was born in 1963; “Muriel’s Wedding” star Rachel Griffiths, who was born in 1968; International Tennis Hall of Famer Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who was born in 1971; “Chandelier” singer Sia, who was born in 1975; “Dawson’s Creek” star Katie Holmes, who was born in 1978; “Beautiful” singer Christina Aguilera, who was born in Staten Island in 1980; and “Bad Guy” singer Billie Eilish, who was born in 2001.

Keith Richards
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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TRAILBLAZER: Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was born on this day in 1912. The World War II hero was born in Washington, D.C., to the Army’s first black general. He was the first African-American to graduate from West Point in the 20th century; he led the first all-black air unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron (the Tuskegee Airmen) in World War II; he helped plan the integration of the U.S. Air Force in 1948-49 and he was its first black general (1954). He died in 2002.

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SCORE ONE FOR OUR SIDE: The U.S. launched the world’s first communications satellite on this day in 1958. Known as SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay), it broadcast a Christmas message via shortwave radio from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The project served as the U.S. response to the Soviet Union’s Sputnik launches in 1957.

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

Quotable:

“It’s great to be here. It’s great to be anywhere.”

— Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who was born on this day in 1943