This day in history

July 11, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Saturday, July 11, the 192nd day of 2009. There are 173 days left in the year. On this date in 1859, Big Ben, the great bell inside the famous London clock tower, chimes for the first time. (The clock itself had been keeping time since May 31.)

In 1767, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, is born in Braintree, Mass. In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps is formally re-established by a congressional act that also creates the U.S. Marine Band. In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, N.J. In 1864, Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early begin an abortive invasion of Washington, turning back the next day. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first incumbent chief executive to travel through the Panama Canal. In 1952, the Republican national convention, meeting in Chicago, nominates Dwight D. Eisenhower for president and Richard M. Nixon for vice president. In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy swears in its first class of cadets at its temporary quarters, Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado. In 1978, 216 people are immediately killed when a tanker truck overfilled with propylene gas explodes on a coastal highway south of Tarragona, Spain. In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab makes a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia. In 1989, actor and director Laurence Olivier dies in Steyning, West Sussex, England, at age 82.

July 11, 1984: The new LTV Steel Corp. will stabilize its area plants, but won’t pursue Republic Steel Corp.’s plan to increase its Warren steelmaking capacity or install a continues caster, says Dr. Leonard Wise, president of LTV Steel’s flat rolled projects.

Youngstown State University will not be one of the sites of an advance technology center. The five centers will be operated by the University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University and by consortiums of universities in Cleveland and Akron.

The state controlling board releases $1 million for replacement of the telephone system at Youngstown State University.

July 11, 1969: Gov. James A. Rhodes’ plane with 21 people aboard has to make a fast sharp turn to avoid a possible collision with a small plane over Holmes County while en route to Youngstown Municipal Airport. Rhodes dedicated the Route 88 causeway over Mosquito Creek Reservoir in Trumbull County.

The Youngstown Diocese increases tuition for 41,090 pupils in its Catholic schools. High school tuition will increase by $25 to $200 a year.

A leading Wall Street broker says, “It’s rough, really rough,” as the stock market has lost an estimated $100 billion in value in the last two months.

July 11, 1959: An 11-year-old East Side Youngstown boy, Richard W. Hall, drowns while swimming in an artificial lake at a religious settlement near Coschocton.

Youngstown City Council passes an ordinance aimed at stopping Mrs. Rose Thomas of Byron Street from feeding the pigeons. Mrs. Thomas, a bird lover, said she has been feeding her “little feathered friends” over 20 years.

More than 350 guests attend an open house at the Edward J. DeBartolo Building at 7620 Market St., one of the area’s most beautiful modern office structures.

July 11, 1934: James T. Begg, a former congressman from Cleveland, tells 300 Republicans at the Southern Hills Country Club that the party must unify against the New Deal. He predicts that unemployment will not be cured for 10 years.

Mahoning County Probate Judge Clifford Woodside responds to a report that Violet Hilton, one of the Siamese twins, wants to get married while in Youngstown for an appearance at Idora Park. The marriage will have to take place in Pennsylvania, he says, because Ohio has a 30-day legal residence clause.