December 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 22, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1877, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “At half past 2 o’clock this afternoon the doors of the American Museum, in New York, were thrown open to the public with appropriate ceremonies. Mr. Robert L. Stuart, President of the Board of Trustees, gave a short, historical sketch of the undertaking. Mr. William R. Martin, President of the Department of Public Works, delivered a brief address upon the benefits to accrue to the community from the establishment of an institution of this character. Professor Charles W. Elliott, President of Harvard University, Professor A.C. Marsh, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Mayor [Smith] Ely, delivered addresses, and President [Rutherford B.] Hayes pronounced the formal words that place this institution at the service of the public.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, the Eagle reported, “The triumph of automatic devices — the automatic coin-in-the-slot restaurant — is now a feature of New York life. It is entitled the Automat and is an ornate, withal extremely novel and inviting food and drink dispensary, located at 830 Broadway, near Twelfth street, and but a few steps from Union square, Manhattan. The attendance at the opening indicated that the enterprise would be a success … The Harcombe Restaurant Co. has been organized to run the Automat restaurants for New York. This is only one of ten contracted for. The parent company in Germany has just organized its American branch and proposes to build all machines in the United States. Back of this company are some of America’s and Germany’s largest financiers. The Automat restaurant at 830 Broadway is about a hundred feet long and about 25 feet wide … There are many slot machines that give out food in response to the coins that are fed them, with a precision and dispatch impossible to human waiters. Here are sandwiches on round plates, in a round table, coming from some mysterious region below. You place a coin in the slot, pull a signifying chank and presto! Out comes the sandwich you want. The rest are there in full view, but you cannot get at them until you feed a nickel in the slot for each sandwich.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “With the assurance from the executive committee that the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, which is to be held in Philadelphia, will open on June 1, 1926, the New York sesquicentennial committee tendered a dinner to W. Freeland Kendrick, Mayor of Philadelphia, last night at the Hotel Roosevelt, Manhattan. The occasion marked the beginning of the united effort of leading commercial and civic interests in both cities to make the coming exposition the greatest in the history of this generation … Consular agents and representatives of foreign industries were seen among the 300 or more diners, half of whom were prominent persons who had come by special train from Philadelphia … Oscar S. Straus, acting as toastmaster during the earlier part of the evening, sounded the keynote of enthusiastic cooperation between the two great cities to make the exposition successful. In his address which preceded the introduction of Mayor Kendrick to the assemblage, he extended a cordial welcome to the visiting guests and pledged the assistance of the citizens of New York to the enterprise, which is to cost millions. ‘I am sure I am voicing the sentiment of our entire New York committee, as well as the purpose of the patriotic people of our city, that we will do everything in our power to cooperate as best we may to make the Sesquicentennial the great success it so richly deserves to be,’ he said. ‘We in New York are too apt to regard Philadelphia as slow and non-progressive. She was neither slow nor non-progressive 150 years ago when she adopted the most aggressive and progressive charter of liberty recorded in the annals of nations, and she adopted this charter five days in advance of New York, for it was not until the ninth day of July when the New York Assembly gave its adhesion to the document.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1955, Bay Ridge Home Reporter guest columnist Rev. Timothy J. Flynn said, “We celebrate Christmas as a feast of sentiment — a day that means good cheer, carols, holly, tinsel, wreaths, ornaments and gifts. But thank God, it also means something more to us than that. It is Somebody’s birthday, and that is the only reason for its existence. It is, after all, the day when the Virgin Mary, who had carried her Lightest Burden closest to her heart, finally gave Him to the world amid the singing of angels and the quiet adoration of shepherds. Christmas means Christ, and if we take Him out of Christmas there is nothing left but a holiday in winter.”

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Jordin Sparks
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Pretty Woman” star Hector Elizondo, who was born in 1936; former N.Y. Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman, who was born in 1942; Baseball Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, who was born in 1944; journalist Diane Sawyer, who was born in 1945; former L.A. Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, who was born in 1948; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), who was born in 1948; former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lonnie Smith, who was born in 1955; “Schindler’s List” star Ralph Fiennes, who was born in 1962; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in 1970; “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, who was born in 1989; “All About That Bass” singer Meghan Trainor, who was born in 1993; and “High School Musical” star Joshua Bassett, who was born in 2000.