Years Ago

Today is Monday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2011. There are 355 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: Thomas Paine anonymously publishes his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense.”

1860: The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Mass., collapses and catches fire, killing up to 145 people, mostly female workers from Scotland and Ireland.

1861: Florida becomes the third state to break from the Union as it passes an Ordinance of Secession at the State Capitol in Tallahassee by a vote of 62-7.

1870: John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

1901: The Spindletop oil field in Beaumont, Texas, produces the Lucas Gusher, heralding the start of the Texas oil boom.

1920: The League of Nations is established as the Treaty of Versailles goes into effect.

1961: The University of Georgia, under court order, admits its first two black students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter (now reporter Charlayne Hunter-Gault).

Dashiell Hammett, author of “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man,” dies in New York at age 66.

1971: “Masterpiece Theatre” premieres on PBS with host Alistair Cooke introducing the drama series “The First Churchills.”

1980: Former AFL-CIO President George Meany dies in Washington, D.C., at age 85.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: A meeting between Youngstown city officials and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources over the future of the Milton Dam achieves no agreement, except that the structure is in very bad condition.

The O’Horo Co. proposes building a $4.2 million office building on the west end of Federal Plaza to house the Mahoning County Human Services Department and some retail shops.

By the narrowest of margins, the Ohio General Assembly approves a bill that will require Ohio drivers and their front seat passengers to use their seatbelts.

1971: Michael Fitas of Campbell is named acting Mahoning County engineer, succeeding J. Phillip Richley, who has been named director of the Ohio Department of Transportation by Gov.-elect John J. Gilligan.

James Felger and his 11 children are all together again in a home on Jersey Street in Lake Milton after the Family Life Department of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese leads an effort to replace the family’s uninsured home that was destroyed by fire in October. Mrs. Felger died in 1969.

After 40 years in public service, including eight as mayor of Niles, Carmen DeChristofaro, 74, announces he won’t seek re-election, fulfilling a promise to his family.

1961: The Ohio Bell Telephone Co. announces it will spend $4.6 million in the Youngstown area, including more than $3 million in the city, on system improvements.

For the third time, Mahoning County commissioners advertise the 300 acres of the county home property on Herbert Road for sale and receive no bids.

The City Law Department says it disagrees with the Youngstown Transit Co.‘s bookkeeping and the amount it pays its executives and will file suit to block an announced fare increase.

1936: Attacked from many sides for his proposed job and salary cuts at City Hall, Youngstown Mayor Lionel Evans says he’ll close fire stations and layoff police officers if city council rejects his suggested economies.

The butchers union files suit seeking an injunction that claims George Oles is violating his contract with the butchers by reopening his downtown store as an “open shop.”

About 120 loyal Mahoning County Democrats attend the Jackson Day dinner at the Hotel Ohio, raising about $320 that will be used to support the New Deal.

Rep. Dickstein, a New York Democrat, introduces an anti-gigolo bill in Congress that is designed “to give government authority to deport some of these counts and dukes, phoney and real, who marry our American women just to get into this country and depart with their money.”