Years Ago

Today is Saturday, April 30, the 120th day of 2011. There are 245 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

A.D. 311: Shortly before his death, Roman Emperor Galerius issues his Edict of Toleration ending persecution of Christians.

1789: George Washington takes office in New York as the first president of the United States.

1803: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.

1812: Louisiana becomes the 18th state of the Union.

1900: Engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad dies in a train wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.

1911: A fire breaks out in Bangor, Maine, destroying much of the downtown area before it is brought under control the next morning. Two deaths are blamed on the blaze.

1939: The New York World’s Fair officially opens with a ceremony that includes an address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1945: As Russian troops approach his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

1958: The American Association of Retired Persons (later simply AARP) is founded in Washington, D.C.

1968: New York City police forcibly remove student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.

1973: President Richard M. Nixon announces the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro asks city council to allocate $140,000 for engineering work on a Federal Plaza renovation.

The 757th Tactical Airlift Squadron at the Youngstown Air Force Reserve Base suspends operations following an accident in which a 200-pound load is dropped from a C-130 aircraft and falls in the yard of a Braceville house.

1971: Eighty 7- and 8-year-olds from Homewood and Salem are among the last riders on the Penn Central’s No. 53 passenger train that has been stopping at East Palestine for nearly 50 years but will stop running May 1.

Tom Hofstetter, a junior at Howland High School, is installed as master councilor of the James J. Tyler Chapter of the Order of DeMolay.

Speaking to the Boardman Lions Club, Mayor Jack C. Hunter emphasizes that he is for a metropolitan form of government and not annexation.

1961: McKay Machine Co. will build a new plant and general offices in Hendricks Road in Wickliffe.

The third annual auto show sponsored by the Road Knights Rod and Custom Club is held in the roofed used car lot at Stackhouse Oldsmobile Co. in Market Street.

Forty-seven Youngstown area companies averaged a profit of 4.7 cents on a dollar’s sales in 1960, according to figures released by the Industrial Information Institute.

1936: Republic Steel Corp. will spend $560,000 on improvements at its Lansingville pipe mills.

Six Youngstown area men will be ordained by Bishop Joseph Schrembs in St. John’s Cathedral: the Rev. Paul Reilly, Rev. James Hennessy, Rev. Michael Ragan, Rev. John Krajnik, Rev. Albert Klein and Rev. Thomas Sefranec.

The Akron Chamber of Commerce lodges a protest against construction of the Lake Erie-Ohio River canal because it would endanger the city’s water supply.