Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Sept. 1, the 244th day of 2011. There are 121 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1715: Following a reign of 72 years, King Louis XIV of France dies four days before his 77th birthday.

1923: The Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama are devastated by an earthquake that claims some 140,000 lives.

1939: World War II begins as Nazi Germany invades Poland.

1941: The first municipally owned parking building in the United States opens in Welch, W. Va.

1961: The Soviet Union ends a moratorium on atomic testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion in central Asia.

1983: Two hundred and sixty-nine people are killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.

1995: A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. (The hall opens to the public the next day.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Sunday’s crowd at the Canfield Fair is estimated at 140,000, which is good, but well below the Sunday record of 158,000 set in 1979.

Interest rates as low as 2.9 percent being offered by major American manufacturers are pulling buyers into Mahoning Valley showrooms. Fifteen sales representatives on the floor of State Chevrolet at 1201 Wick Ave. were not enough to keep up with the constant flow of Saturday customers.

The Youngstown Board of Education reaches an agreement with its noncertificated employees, but teachers are threatening a strike unless terms of a new contract are reached.

1971: Four dancers, two owners and a lighting technician are arrested at Caesar’s Palace Burlesque Theater at 1213 Market St. by Youngstown’s vice squad, headed by Sgt. Randall Wellington, charged with public nudity for putting on a nude show.

A Youngstown patrolman is suspended from the police force for 30 days for neglect of duty because of the escape of two city jail prisoners a week earlier.

Youngstown City Council approves legislation to sell land at E. Federal Street for construction of a 10-story office building and the sale of E. Federal Street land for expansion of the Youngstown Automobile Club.

1961: Donna Brodish, 20, of Hickory Township, Pa., is one of 78 people killed in the crash of a TWA Lockheed Constellation shortly after takeoff from Chicago’s Midway Airport. The flight had originated at the Pittsburgh Airport.

The United Negro College Fund in Youngstown has raised $7,313 toward its goal of $18,000.

1936: Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kurz of 33 Illinois Ave. are stabbed in the ante-chamber of Judge Frank Baldwin’s court by Mrs. Kurz’ ex-husband before the opening of a hearing into the custody of Mrs. Kurz’s 12-year-old daughter. They were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Clarence Chamberlain, transatlantic flyer, zooms over the building tops of Youngstown in a plane that he plans to use in for another trans-Atlantic flight.