Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2009. There are 88 days left in the year. On this date in 1957, the Space Age begins as the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launch an assault on the British at Germantown, Pa., resulting in heavy American casualties. In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, is born in Delaware, Ohio. In 1887, the International Herald Tribune has its beginnings as the Paris Herald, a European edition of the New York Herald. In 1931, the comic strip “Dick Tracy,” created by Chester Gould, makes its debut. In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini confer at Brenner Pass in the Alps. In 1958, the first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service is begun by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, or BOAC, with flights between London and New York. In 1959, the Soviet Union launches Luna 3, a space probe which transmits images of the far side of the moon. In 1965, Pope Paul VI becomes the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addresses the U.N. General Assembly.

October 4, 1984: An electrical switch blows up in a downtown manhole, slightly injuring a woman and knocking out power to a section of downtown. Window washers from Huff Window Cleaning Service of Wampum, Pa., are stranded on an electric scaffold between the sixth and seventh floors of City Centre One.

Renovation of the Trumbull County nursing home in Brookfield is one of eight projects selected by county commissioners for funding under the $495,000 Community Development program.

U.S. auto makers post their best model year in five years and the compact Chevrolet Cavalier assembled at Lordstown and Janesville, Wisc., was America’s best selling 1984 car.

October 4, 1969: Youngstown police arrest an 18-year-old Yorkshire Blvd. man whom they describe as a “pusher of narcotics” in the Youngstown State University area.

Mayor Anthony B. Flask says a cutback of $215 million in the nationwide Model Cities program will not jeopardize funding for Youngstown Urban Development projects.

State Sen. Charles J. Carney of Youngstown, Ohio Senate minority leader, is undergoing treatment for Parkinson’s Disease at Ohio State University Hospital, where he is receiving a revolutionary new drug, L-Dopa.

Carl McGuire Sr., 30, is burned when fumes from floor cement ignite and his wife and two children are injured while escaping the flames at the family home on Rose Court.

Maj. Robert G. Arnold, medical officer of the 83rd Support Command, has retired after 25 years of service in World War II, the Korean War and the Army Reserves.

October 4, 1959: With a break in the 82-day steel strike believed near, management and labor in the Youngstown District are preparing for as quick a resumption of production as possible.

While Republican mayoral candidate Edward Gilronan is leading in some sections of Youngstown, the Vindicator poll indicates Frank R. Franko is headed for victory by a 5,000-vote margin.

A special exhibition of its permanent collection opens at the Butler Institute of American Art to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the gallery.

October 4, 1934: Brig. Gen. George B. Pillsbury, a staunch supporter of the proposed development of a Beaver-Mahoning rivers canal, is named chairman of the Board of Army Engineers for Rivers and Harbors.

The “Road of Remembrance” is being landscaped by the state for a distance of about four miles running directly north from Youngstown on State Route 90 at a cost of $5,000.

Major Hammond, 26, is arrested for the second time in a week as Youngstown police continue a crackdown on street-corner lottery sales.

Local coal dealers are vying to get contracts for 50,000 tons of coal the state will buy for distribution to Mahoning County relief families.