Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Aug. 2, the 214th day of 2009. There are 151 days left in the year. On this date in 1909, the original Lincoln penny (with two ears of wheat on the reverse side) first goes into circulation, replacing the “Indian Head” cent.

In 1776, members of the Continental Congress begin attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok is shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who is later hanged. In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, dies in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president. In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg dies, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.

August 2, 1984: An ambitious plan to restore Cascade Park to its glory days in the early 1900s is unveiled by New Castle Mayor Dale Yoho at a gathering in City Hall.

Haber Furniture, a downtown retail institution for nearly 40 years, will go out of business once the owners sign a land-sale agreement with the federal government. The GSA has recommended the site for a new federal courthouse.

August 2, 1969: The Rev. Forrest G. Nees, minister of the Medina United Methodist Church, is named Youngstown district superintendent of the United Methodist Church.

Mahoning County Sheriff’s Capt. Orlando DiLullo says a hacksaw blade used in an attempted break from the maximum security range of the Mahoning County jail was smuggled in with the aid of a trusty.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. submits an offer of $3.10 per square foot for land bounded by E. Front Street, S. Walnut, Emily Alley and S. Champion Street in the downtown Urban Renewal area.

August 2, 1959: John Terna, 10, of Youngstown drowns in Mosquito Lake in Trumbull County while wading with his Cub Scout Pack near St. Robert Mission north of Cortland. James Doyle, 18, of Meadville, a sophomore at Yale University, drowns in Lake Erie off Merrill’s Beach in Geneva Township.

Pollster Samuel Lubell finds that the vote trend for farmers in the Midwest in the 1960 presidential election is running heavily against the Republican Party.

Paul Kostyshak, engineer for District 4 of the Ohio Highway Department, says pouring concrete on three ramps at the Sharon end of Route 82 is all that is keeping the state from opening the 8-mile stretch of the highway from Route 90 to Route 62.

August 2, 1934: The Mahoning Valley suffered through the hottest July in 41 years, since records were kept, says L.H. Copeland, weather observer in Millport. The mean temperature was 3.7 degrees above the normal of 70.5 and rainfall was 1.8 inches below the normal of 4.44 inches.

George Oles reopens his downtown market after extensive remodeling following a recent fire. About 900 employees will be back at work.

The five-week session of Summer Bible School at Christ Mission Settlement comes to a close with a program put on by the children for parents and friends. Eighty-six boys and girls attended the school.

A new 4-H club building is under construction at the Canfield Fairgrounds and completion is expected before the opening of the fair.