Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Dec. 31, the 365th and final day of 2011.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1759: Arthur Guinness founds his famous brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin.

1775: During the Revolutionary War, the British repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery is killed.

1879: Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrates his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.

1909: The Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, is officially opened to vehicular traffic.

1946: President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

1951: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

1961: The Green Bay Packers shut out the New York Giants 37-0 to win the National Football League Championship.

1969: Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, is shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hitmen acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.

1985: Singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people are killed when fire breaks out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve show in Dallas.

1986: Ninety-seven people are killed when fire breaks out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.)

1991: Representatives of the government of El Salvador and rebels reach agreement at the United Nations on a peace accord to end 12 years of civil war.

Vindicator files

1986: Tips to police from members of the Kirkhaven Crime Watch area leads to the arrest of two Austintown juveniles suspected of involvement in a series of home burglaries.

The Ohio Supreme Court upholds the death penalty for John Glenn, who killed a Mahoning County reserve deputy, John Litch Jr., in 1981.

Playing New Year’s Eve at the MetroPlex Center in Liberty Township: Phyllis Diller, with special guest Sir Bentley. Full course dinner and open bar, $94.95 per couple.

LTV Steel plans to spend $500 million on improvements, but none of the money will be spent at the Warren and Youngstown plants.

1971: Two additional district blast furnaces, one at Brier Hill and one in Sharon, will be lighted, a precursor of a predicted steel upturn in 1972.

William Halase, a member of the Campbell Police Department for 15 years, is named Campbell’s new police chief.

St. Elizabeth Hospital announces an increase of $3 per day in room rates bringing the charge for a private room to $62.

1961: A gunman shoots and wounds George Lawrence, 50, proprietor of an East Side gas station who refused demands for his money. The robber escaped with $30.

The Youngstown Silent Club marks its 40th anniversary. The new officers are Harry Dickson, Mr. and Mrs. Leroy R. Gilboy, Ralph Gefsky and Raymond J. Borucki.

Betty Allen, former Youngstown woman who scored a recent triumph in New York in the mezzo lead in “La Sonnambula,” will give a homecoming concert at Stambaugh Auditorium on Jan. 13.

1936: A strike by auto workers against General Motors and Fisher Body causes a hold on steel orders and leads to layoffs in some Youngstown mills.

Armour Altman, secretary to Youngstown’s mayor, says beer gardens and other establishments that hold dances without permits, will be prosecuted. One-night permits for those who want to play it safe are available at the mayor’s office for $5.

Police are seeking a hit-skip driver who struck and killed John Majernick, 42, of Franklin Avenue near the South Avenue bridge.