January 11: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 11, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1849, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “Mr. Nicholl, of New York, who brought forward the mint bill, has moved it for consideration on the 15th inst. The bill proposes the erection of a branch mint in New York. We trust that our representative will see to it that Brooklyn has the preference over New York, as in every respect a more suitable place, and will also see that it is not a branch mint, but the mint. We have exactly the place to put it, where it will do Uncle Sam some credit. If it is stowed away in the little dirty city over the way, nobody will ever see it, and its proportions will be utterly lost. But if it should be located on our splendid City Hall Place, it would be a mint and no mistake.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1849, the Eagle reported, “Colonel Dix, reported by telegraph as a victim of Cholera, is a brother of Hon. J.A. Dix, U.S. Senator from this State, who distinguished himself greatly in the Mexican war.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1869, the Eagle reported, “Mrs. Lincoln, now ill at Frankfort, is announced to be mentally as well as physically diseased.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Eagle reported, “NEW HAVEN, CONN., JAN. 10 — Losing weight has compelled former President W.H. Taft to have his garments modeled on less generous lines. Yesterday he gave to a local tailor an order for changes to be made in thirty-five pairs of trousers. Mr. Taft has reduced his weight eighty pounds, and his waist line has drawn in six inches so that it now measures only forty-eight inches. The tailor will also alter thirty-five coats and vests to conform to Mr. Taft’s bodily measurements as a Yale professor.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — A new War Department building, long sought to centralize under one roof in Washington the Army’s extensive administrative and departmental headquarters activities, has been recommended to Congress by President Roosevelt. In his recent budget estimates, the Chief Executive set aside $5,000,000 under Treasury Department needs for the beginning of work on a modern structure near the new Interior Department building. Approximately $15,000,000 would be needed to complete the building. Half of the original proposed appropriation of $5,000,000 would be spent during the fiscal year beginning next July. Since the World War, administrative staff, now numbering approximately 5,000 officers and civilian employees, has been scattered over Washington and nearby Virginia in offices in 19 different buildings. The greater part of these are located in the old munitions building, a temporary war-time structure adjoining the Navy Department building, which was constructed at the same time, on Constitution Ave. Offices occupied by the army’s high command, however, including the Secretary of War, the chiefs of staff and other ranking departments, are in the State Department building, next door to the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. Originally the State Department building was known as the State, War and Navy building, and from the time it was completed, in 1870, until the outbreak of the World War it housed the activities of all those departments.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Mayor LaGuardia would like to commend a certain unidentified bartender who refused to sell an 18-year-old sailor a drink at a bar. In his weekly radio talk to the people yesterday the Mayor read a letter he received from a sailor who complained of being refused a drink at a bar because of his age. ‘If I’m old enough to be registered for the draft I’m old enough to buy a drink. If 18-year-olds are old enough to fight they ought to be able to get a drink,’ the letter read. ‘Can you do anything or must I write to the President?’ The Mayor answered: ‘I agree with the bartender and I think you’ll have time enough later to order a drink. I wish I knew the bartender. I’d like to commend him. Eighteen years is too young to drink. There’ll be plenty of time later on.’ The Alcoholic Beverage Control Law prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages to those under 18 years of age.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “A frigid snowstorm of near-blizzard proportions enveloped the metropolitan area today while an army of workers battled to keep the fast-freezing arteries of transportation open. The furious snowfall, which is expected to be ‘in excess of 15 inches,’ according to the Weather Bureau, was whipped into huge drifts by Arctic blasts. High winds and more snow were forecast for today, tonight and tomorrow morning, accompanied by sub-freezing temperatures. Today’s low at 2:30 a.m. was 12.8 degrees. The Weather Bureau reported eight inches of snow had fallen by 7 a.m. Highway traffic was reduced to a painful crawl by ice and drifts, and some roads, including the three-mile stretch of Gowanus Parkway, were closed by officials. The Department of Sanitation, abandoning garbage collections for the day, summoned all its personnel and extra laborers to assume the Herculean task of clearing the city streets. In Brooklyn alone, 3,000 men were assigned by Commissioner Andrew W. Mulrain to ‘Operation Snowstorm.’ Department spokesmen said 332 trucks equipped with plows and 184 crosswalk plows were pressed into service in the borough.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tony Kaye (Yes), who was born in 1945; World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw, who was born in 1952; Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson, who was born in 1958; stock car racer Brett Bodine, who was born in 1959; former N.Y. Mets coach Manny Acta, who was born in 1969; singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, who was born in 1971; “Brockmire” star Amanda Peet, who was born in 1972; “Prison Break” star Rockmond Dunbar, who was born in 1973; former N.Y. Giants tight end Kevin Boss, who was born in 1984; WordPress developer Matt Mullenweg, who was born in 1984; and former N.Y. Jets tight end Ryan Griffin, who was born in 1990.