Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2009. There are 92 days left in the year. On this date in 1809, the Treaty of Fort Wayne (also known as the Ten O’Clock Line Treaty) is signed by Indiana Territory Gov. William Henry Harrison and representatives of four Indian tribes. (Under terms of the treaty, the Indians sell some 3 million acres of land to be used for U.S. settlements.)

In 1777, the Continental Congress — forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces — moves to York, Pa. In 1791, Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” premieres in Vienna, Austria. In 1846, Boston dentist William Morton uses ether as an anesthetic for the first time as he extracts an ulcerated tooth from merchant Eben Frost. In 1938, after co-signing the Munich Agreement allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain praises the accord on his return home, saying, “I believe it is peace for our time.” In 1939, the first college football game to be televised is shown on experimental station W2XBS in New York as Fordham University defeats Waynesburg College, 34-7. In 1949, the Berlin Airlift comes to an end. In 1954, the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is commissioned by the Navy.

September 30, 1984: The easing of gasoline shortages has spurred the sale of large cars and is helping the bottom line for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Three 50-year members of the Maennerchor are honored: Andrew Thalmann, 81; John May, 84, and Alfred Birlenbach, 80.

Dr. William S. Begalla, a 1974 graduate of Mooney High, accepts a commission in the U.S. Coast Guard as a lieutenant senior grade and will serve as a dental officer.

September 30, 1969: A wildcat strike breaks out at the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant over the suspension of 20 employees accused of smoking in a restricted area. The walkout slows Ammunition Loading Line 3, which produces 155 mm artillery shells.

Mahoning County commissioners appeal to all county officers and department heads to curtail spending for the balance of 1969 to avert possible employee layoffs.

Spec. 4 John W. Lupu, 21, a former Hubbard resident, is killed in action while serving with the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division in South Vietnam.

September 30, 1959: A labor dispute at Chrysler’s new stamping plant at Twinsburg threatens to drastically cut production of 1960 model cars while idling 45,000 employees in seven states.

“Bird Man” Otto Standke, who has offered to rid downtown Youngstown of bothersome starlings, has failed in his latest attempt to rid Mount Vernon, New York, of the birds. The downtown area was so thick with starlings that police took to shotgunnning them.

Slippery Rock Bridge, Mill Creek Park’s final project in its five-year capital improvements program, is dedicated at a ceremony attended by 250 people.

September 30, 1934: Twenty-five lot owners on the South Side say they will seriously consider building new homes when the Federal Housing Administration makes it possible for them to borrow mortgage money.

Nearly 500 Republican workers attend a meeting sponsored by Sheriff William J. Engelhardt in a campaign to elect Republicans in Mahoning County.

Ohio Gov. George White writes to Lucius McKelvey congratulating the G.M. McKelvey Co. on its 50th anniversary and praising the company for its campaign urging people to practice thrift.