Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2011. There are 28 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1828: Andrew Jackson is elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.

1833: Oberlin College in Ohio — the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States — begins holding classes.

1925: George Gershwin’s Concerto in F has its world premiere at New York’s Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin at the piano.

1947: The Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens on Broadway.

1967: Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard perform the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lives 18 days with the new heart.

The 20th Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completes its final run from New York to Chicago.

1979: Eleven people are killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

1984: Thousands of people die when methyl isocyanate gas escapes from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Chanting, “Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong,” some 2,000 LTV workers and their supporters rally in Cleveland seeking preservation of retiree pension benefits.

Steel is once again being made at Brier Hill as North Star Steel begins operations at the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. plant.

Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro says an undetermined number of city employees will be laid off in January due to the loss of $2 million in general revenue sharing money.

1971: Independent and organized Democrats in Lawrence County spent $25,000 in the Nov. 2 general election, allowing Democrats to capture a majority on the board of commissioners for the first time in 22 years and the New Castle mayor’s seat for the first time in 44 years.

The Ohio Department of Liquor Control suspends the liquor permits of the Proto Club at 1327 Market Street for 300 days beginning Christmas Eve for allowing drugs on the premises.

Gov. John J. Gilligan is seeking state and federal support for construction of a jetport five to eight miles off shore in Lake Erie.

The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority is seeking to make 100 dwelling units available to low-income residents through leasing privately owned property.

1961: Esther Hamilton’s Alias Santa Claus show raises a record $51,293 for the needy in its 31st year.

The Mahoning County Medical Society says 90,000 is a conservative estimate for the number of people who turned out on the second day of the society’s drive for 50 cent doses of the Sabin oral polio vaccine.

Cardinal Mooney’s grid powerhouse, which captured its first City Series Championship, has six players named to the 15-player Vindicator All-City Squad.

1936: James Barclay Johnston Jr., 22, son of the president of the Kinsman Banking Co., is crushed beneath a load of potatoes when the truck he was driving crashes into a stalled truck on Market Street Ext. in Boardman.

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will broadcast over a nationwide hookup from WTAM in Cleveland, Paul Wolcott, symphony society president, announces.

Another robbery gang that has been terrorizing Youngstown and beyond is believed to have been broken up with the arrest of four men by Canton police.

New car sales in Youngstown hit a record in November with 626 cars and 79 trucks sold.