June 25: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 25, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1915, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — The Widener Memorial Library, presented to Harvard University by Mrs. Eleanor Elkins Widener of Philadelphia, in memory of her son, Harry Elkins Widener, a Harvard alumnus and a victim of the Titanic disaster, was dedicated yesterday.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “Vacation! Let that word sink in. Sounds good in your ears at this time, doesn’t it? For three-quarters of a year you have known the restraint of the classroom, and now you are to be released. Enthusiasm over the approaching vacation does not mark any boy or girl as one inclined to shirk school work. It is the natural reaction after months of poring over books indoors. It is the natural yearning for freedom and the great outdoors that should be strong in every red-blooded boy and girl by the time summer arrives. Every man, woman and child is like a clock. You can go at top speed just so long, and then you begin to run out. Some clocks are set to run twenty-four hours; others keep time for a week and still others can run for a full year without re-winding. The average boy or girl can toil about nine or ten months without re-winding; the re-winding is the vacation. Grownups are able to work for longer periods without taking time off to recuperate and prepare for another run. Just at present most of you are like a clock a few minutes before it stops. You are beginning to slow down from the effects of the constant wear and tear of long months of study and recitation. Your thinking machinery needs re-winding in the shape of a generous rest. Then you will be ready to start all over again with a zest, and with renewed vim.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1916, the Eagle reported, “COOPERSTOWN, JUNE 24 — Interest here just now centers on the opening of the new Delaware and Hudson passenger station, which is to be dedicated Thursday, June 29. Several officials of the railroad company, including President [Leonor F.] Loree and Vice President Clifford Sims, are to arrive Wednesday night on a special train. They will bring with them several noted men in the baseball world, among them President Charles Ebbets of the Brooklyn National League team; President [John K.] Tener of the National League, and President [Jacob] Ruppert of the Yankees. Cooperstown is the birthplace of the national game of baseball, having been played here in 1839 at Green’s select school by Abner Doubleday and others. A commission appointed by the National and American Leagues several years ago rendered a verdict in favor of Cooperstown, whose claims were established without doubt. The railroad and baseball officials are to participate in a parade which will form at the Village Club at 10 a.m., and with the citizens of the town march to the station, where several addresses will be made. Commissioner of Education John H. Finley of Albany will be one of the speakers. At noon a luncheon will be served at the Otesaga, at which the visitors will be the guests of the Cooperstown Board of Trade.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “Barren Island is no longer infested with the marijuana weed, police of Vanderveer Park precinct reported today after a thorough investigation of plant life there. For several days, patrolmen tramped through the brush and swamps of the island made famous by its squatters and ‘Angel’ Jane Shaw, who was principal of the little public school there. They were unable to find a trace of the weed. Last year a batch of marijuana was discovered growing wild on the island. So effective was police work of eradication that it has completely disappeared.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “LOS ANGELES, CAL. (U.P.) — John Flannigan, vice president of Anheuser-Busch Breweries, forgot he was in Los Angeles instead of St. Louis at the opening of the company’s new $20,000,000 plant here. Flannigan, acting as master of ceremonies, introduced Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson as ‘the Mayor of our great city, St. Louis.’”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “WALTHAM, MASS. (U.P.) — A woman seeking U.S. citizenship papers did all right with the examination until she came to a question about the flag. To the query, ‘What flies over the state house in Boston?’ she replied: ‘Pigeons.’”

***

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Lassie” and “Lost in Space” star June Lockhart, who was born in 1925; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carly Simon, who was born in 1943; “Good Times” star Jimmie Walker, who was born in 1947; Toto singer David Paich, who was born in 1954; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was born in 1954; “After Life” star Ricky Gervais, who was born in 1961; former N.Y. Yankees catcher Mike Stanley, who was born in 1963; Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who was born in 1966; “ER” star Linda Cardellini, who was born in 1975; and internet personality Lele Pons, who was born in 1996.

***

TO THE BITTER END: The Battle of Little Bighorn was fought on this day in 1876. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, leading military forces of more than 200 men, attacked an encampment of 2,000 Sioux Indians led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse near Little Bighorn River, Mont. Custer and all men in his immediate command were killed in the two-hour battle.

***

GET SET: The first color TV broadcast took place on this day in 1951. CBS produced the four-hour program, which was carried by stations in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C., although no color sets were owned by the public. At the time, CBS itself owned fewer than 40 color receivers.

***

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

Quotable:

“Go to the moon. If you don’t get it, you’ll still be heading for a star.”

— N.Y. Knicks legend Willis Reed, who was born in this day in 1942