Sailors & Soldiers Monument
Yonkers was the first village in Westchester to respond to Lincoln’s call for volunteer troops. In 1891 the city erected this 47–foot–high granite memorial designed by George H. Mitchell to honor local residents who fought in the Civil War. The statues at is base represent the artillery, navy, cavalry, and infantry; crowning the obelisk is a standard bearer drawing his sword to defend the flag.
Yonkers mourned the death of Lincoln in 1865 with the rest of the nation by building a memorial arch at the foot of Main Street when his funeral cortège passed through town on the Hudson River Railroad.
Despite the destruction caused by the great fire of 1869, which destroyed a number of blocks in downtown, the post–Civil War era was a time of growth and prosperity.
In 1871 Yonkers established a police force. A year later it was incorporated as a city; in 1873 it began construction of its water–works—the first in the County.
