Years Ago

Today is Monday, July 4, the 185th day of 2011. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: The Declaration of Independence is adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

1802: The U.S.Military Academy officially opens at West Point, N.Y.

1939: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees delivers his famous farewell speech in which he calls himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

1976: Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by hijackers.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Nearly 100 drivers and production workers vote to end a two-week strike against Pepsi-Cola Bottlers of Youngstown.

The United Steelworkers of America are attempting to overturn a U.S. bankruptcy judge’s ruling that voids aspects of the contract with the Van Huffel Tube Corp.

1971: Youngstown may soon be without mass transit for the first time since 1871 when horsecars traveled through the city’s muddy streets as the MTA is in fiscal crisis 10 months after taking over the Youngstown Transit Co.

Aimee Conlan of Vienna takes the girls 14 singles crown at the Ohio Hardcourt Tennis championships at Volney Rogers in Mill Creek Park, beating Jan Elder of Cleveland, 6-1, 6-0.

1961: A 27-year naval career ends with the retirement of Cmdr. Lloyd D. Dexter and the transfer of his command of the U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Reserve training center in Youngstown to Cmdr. Joseph B. Brady Jr.

Pennsylvania state policemen use tear gas to persuade 12 defiant prisoners in the Lawrence County Jail to return to their cells.

1936: Youngstown’s three city pools, Borts, Lincoln and South Side, open to more than 1,975 bathers, with opening day receipts totaling $80.45.

A new office building that will be occupied entirely by specialists in various fields of medicine is being erected at Market Street and Boston Avenue at a cost of $22,000.