Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2010. There are 355 days left in the year. On this date in 1860, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Mass., collapses, trapping hundreds in the rubble; during rescue efforts, a fire breaks out — up to 145 people, mostly female workers from Scotland and Ireland, perish.

In 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil. In 1910, Hallmark Cards has its origins as its founder, Joyce Clyde Hall, arrives in Kansas City, Mo., to begin selling postcards wholesale. In 1920, the League of Nations is established as the Treaty of Versailles goes into effect. In 1967, Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, takes his seat. In 1980, former AFL-CIO president George Meany died in Washington, D.C., at 85.

January 10, 1985: Warren’s 235 service workers ratify a new work agreement granting a 3-percent pay raise, tax-free employee pension contributions, continued paid hospitalization and a closed shop.

Reflecting a strong demand for Lordstown’s Chevrolet Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunbirds, General Motors Corp. boosts the speed of its Lordstown assembly line by three-and-a-half cars an hour. The plant had been producing 75 an hour.

January 10, 1970: Freshman Councilman William Shranko says Youngstown’s $30,000 deficit could be wiped out by reducing the city’s payroll, which he says ballooned with 31 hires made by outgoing Mayor Anthony B. Flask.

Employees and stockholders of the Youngstown Isaly Dairy Co. plant, along with franchise partners, are planning to purchase the Mahoning Avenue Isaly plant from Isaly Dairy Co. of Pittsburgh.

January 10, 1960: The United Steelworkers of America wins two major concessions from Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. The company will employ a permanent arbiter to handle disputes and establishes seniority as the basis on which promotions and demotions will be based.

Mahoning County Republican Chairman Elton W. Luckhart has sent letters to central committeemen seeking candidates to fill a full slate of candidates in the county by the Feb. 3 deadline.

January 10, 1935: The Steel Labor Board in Washington orders Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. to provide payrolls of its East Chicago and South Chicago plants in preparation for a vote to determine whether the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tim Workers represents employees in those plants.

Fred A. LaBelle, former secretary of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, is released after serving seven months of a one-to-10 year sentence for embezzling $8,500. Gov. George White commuted LaBelle’s sentence at the request of Chamber of Commerce officials from around the state.