Today is Wednesday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2009. There are 302 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2009. There are 302 days left in the year. On this date in 1789, the Constitution of the United States goes into effect as the first Federal Congress meets in New York. (The lawmakers then adjourn for lack of a quorum.)

In 1809, James Madison is sworn into office as the fourth president of the United States. (The occasion marks the first time an inaugural ball is held the evening after the swearing-in.) In 1858, Sen. James Henry Hammond, D-S.C., declares “Cotton is king” in a speech to the U.S. Senate. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States. In 1908, a fire at Lake View School in Collinwood, Ohio, claims the lives of 172 children and three adults.

March 4, 1984: Irvin Stillerman, 61, of Lowellville, the driver of a truck that brought down the Lincoln Bridge, is released after 12 days in South Side Hospital. He recalls his truck beginning to fall through the bridge and “all I could do was hold on.”

Dr. Robert F, Dyer, professor of business administration at George Washington University’s School of Government and Business Administration, and a Youngstown native, has been named president- elect of the American Marketing Association.

Campbell Memorial beats Minerva and the Rayen School beats Streetsboro to advance to District play in boys high school basketball.

March 4, 1969: The source of grease and oil at Crandall Lake, which is keeping waterfowl out of the water, has been traced to a car wash in Trumbull County and the Youngstown Board of Health has written a letter to the Trumbull County Board of Health demanding action.

Bert T. Olsen takes over as general manager of the Packard Electric Division of General Motors, succeeding George W. Chestunt.

Joseph Bond, 82, manager of the Tod Hotel for 31 years, dies in Bethesda Memorial Hospital, Boynton Beach, Fla. Bond came to Youngstown from England in 1907 and became manager of the Tod Hotel, the oldest in town. It was closed in November 1968.

March 4, 1959: The Youngstown Board of Health will offer free shots against smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus in addition to polio for those unable to pay for the protection for their children.

Youngstown University earns its third straight trip to the NAIA basketball tourney, which will be held in Kansas City, by beating Baldwin-Wallace, 97-77, in the finals of Ohio eliminations, held at South Field House.

Further boosts in office furniture sales in 1959, indicating better business and employment for General Fireproofing Co., are predicted by Chairman Walter Bender and President A.E. Purnell. GF reported a 1958 net profit of $1.5 million, down from $4.3 million a year earlier.

March 4, 1934: Major Gen. Edward Markham, chief of the Army Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, will appear personally to plead for approval of the Beaver-Mahoning waterway project when it comes before the rivers and harbors committee of the House of Representative.

“President Roosevelt’s first year in the White House is marked by definite achievements. What he has accomplished in the short period of his incumbency is less important than the methods by which he has brought them about,” Dr. I. E. Philo says in an address at Rodef Sholem Temple.

The Heidelberg College Women’s Choir, a group of 34 singers under the direction of Prof. A.S. Ebersole, will perform at the First Reformed Church, singing a program of sacred and secular music.

One of the biggest delegations of visitors ever to attend a Knights of Pythias district meeting in Lisbon is expected when members from Columbiana, Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties convene.