Short Post History

Yorktown American Legion Post #1009 was formed and organized in the 1920's but the Post's Charter for some reason was not issued until May 1, 1931 by the American Legion's National Headquarters. The Post #1009's Ladies Auxiliary Unit was chartered in 1926. During these early years of the late 1920's and early 1930's the veterans of Post #1009 met, as did many town organizations of the era, in a room above Dunning's Garage. The Garage was located on Commerce Street not far from the Old Putnam Line's Yorktown Depot. In 1935, when construction of the Yorktown Town Hall was completed, the Post moved its meetings to the basement there. One of the Post's Charter Members and Past Commanders was Earl Hawke, Yorktown's first Police Chief. Hawke was instrumental in having a piece of land donated to the Post to set up a building on. The parcel, located on Route 6 west of Strawberry Road near the John La Farge Council, Knights of Columbus grounds, was donated to the Post by W. Fields Osgood. However, since the town's heaviest population was centered in the Yorktown Heights area of town, it was decided to sell that plot of land and move closer to the center of town. The proceeds from the land sale launched the building project which required the taking out of a mortgage, plus countless hours of Legionnaire volunteer labor to complete the Post's present building. The present Post Legion Hall located on Veterans Road was built in 1957.
On March 15, 1975 Yorktown American Legion Post #1009 held a special dual purpose ceremony. One portion honoring the birthday of the American Legion. The second portion of the ceremony was a small mortgage burning ceremony in which a photocopy of the Post's $21,000 mortgage was burned. This showed the Post was debt free, and a full two years ahead of schedule. Present for this ceremony was one of two remaining Charter Members, Past Commander Clarence Murphy. Mr Murphy was a guiding influence in Yorktown as a Town Council member for 25 years. The second Charter Member, Theodore Hill, was influential in Yorktown and throughout the state serving as Town Supervisor and also as a State Assemblyman. Another Post Charter Member that served as Yorktown's Town Supervisor and left a permanent mark on the town was the late John Downing.