Years Ago

Today is Saturday, March 26, the 85th day of 2011. There are 280 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1804: The Louisiana Purchase is divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.

1874: Poet Robert Frost is born in San Francisco.

1892: Poet Walt Whitman dies in Camden, N.J.

1911: American playwright Tennessee Williams (“The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) is born in Columbus, Miss.

1917: The Seattle Metropolitans become the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeat the Montreal Canadiens.

1971: East Pakistan proclaims its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.

1979: A peace treaty is signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

1982: Groundbreaking ceremonies take place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The private sector holds the keys to the Mahoning Valley’s economic development and must unify its efforts, Larry Ledebur, an economic consultant, tells the Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Youngstown Board of Education names a retired teacher, Ruth Bowers, to fill the spot left by the resignation of board member Henry Guzman.

School Superintendent Clyde A. Metz says the Hubbard School District will need a third loan later in 1971, bringing the district’s short term debt to $1.25 million. The district has a 9.9 mill levy on the May ballot.

1971: Only two Liberty Township residents appear at a Youngstown City Council public hearing called to gauge interest in Youngstown’s extending water service north of I-80.

Joseph Fortine, a 44-year-old accountant, is injured when a bomb rips through his 1970 Cadillac when he turns the ignition key outside his Boardman office.

Walter I. Rauh, Youngstown smoke abatement engineer, cites St. Elizabeth Hospital, the Youngstown Board of Education Rayen School building, and the unused Isaly Dairy Co. plant at 1033 Mahoning Ave. for allowing their heating systems to pollute the air.

1961: A running gun battle between Youngstown police and a bandit, at speeds reaching 100 mph, from the Isaly store on E. Midlothian Blvd. ends when the bandit crashes into a house in Poland, killing the bandit.

Prof. Norman Chapman, head of the piano department at Dana School of Music of Youngstown University, will give a scholarship benefit recital at the C.J. Strouss Memorial auditorium.

1936: A man and two women are dead and a 12-year-old girl in critical condition, victims of fumes from a gas heater or coal stove that filled a home at 1647 Jefferson St. on Warren’s West Side. Dead are Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Carter and Mrs. Catherine Forrest. Dorothy Mae Carter, 12, is in St. Joseph Riverside Hospital.

Jack Trammell, Youngstown heavyweight, knocks out Salvatore Ruggerillo, Primo Carnera’s former sparring partner, in the fourth round of a 10-round bout at the Rayen-Wood Auditorium.

Fred C. Kirchner who founded the Banner Works, which was later acquired by the General Electric Co. as its Mazda plant, dies of a heart attack in his office shortly after returning from a Rotary Club meeting. He was 64.