Years Ago

July 26, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Monday, July 26, the 207th day of 2010. There are 158 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: Benjamin Franklin becomes America’s first Postmaster-General.

1908: U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte orders creation of a force of special agents that is a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1945: Winston Churchill resigns as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives are soundly defeated by the Labor Party. (Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister.)

1956: Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal.

1986: Kidnappers in Lebanon release the Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco, an American hostage held for nearly 19 months.

1990: President George H.W. Bush signs into law the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Copperweld Corp. says it will spend $23 million to modernize its struggling Copperweld Steel Co. in Warren if it can get contract language changes and incentive concessions from hourly employees.

At least eight people are injured by a fire at the General Motors van plant at Lordstown which caused evacuation of the plant.

1970: Census returns show that Canfield failed to attain city status, falling nine short of the 5,000 population threshold.

Thousands of local circus fans jam two performances of the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. circus, brought to town by the Youngstown Jaycees.

1960: Eugene G. Grace, 83, who made Bethlehem Steel Corp. the nation’s second largest producer during a 50 year career, dies in Bethlehem, Pa. He was the architect of two unsuccessful attempts, in 1929 and 1953, to merge Bethlehem and Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.

The 17th annual Mahoning Saddle and Bridle Club show opens at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

1935: Caroline Emma Driscoll, a former worker in Mahoning County relief headquarters, testifies during a state inquiry that Mahoning County had as many as 6,000 unauthorized people on its relief roles.

Municipal Court orders the city to pay three city undertakers, J.S. Orr, Fred B. King and Fred B. Handel, a total of $842 for the burial of 11 indigent citizens.