Today in history: Saturday, April 19

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: The American Revolutionary War begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

1861: A week after the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln authorizes a blockade of Southern ports.

1912: A special subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee opens hearings in New York into the Titanic disaster.

1939:Connecticut beccomes the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.

1943: During World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto begin a valiant but ultimately futile battle against Nazi forces.

1951: Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bids farewell in an address to Congress in which he quotes a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

1960: South Korean students begin an uprising that topples the government of President Syngman Rhee a week later.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: More than half of the $850,000 funneled to minority entrepreneurs by the city of Youngstown’s Minority Business Enterprise program have been written off because of business failures, records reveal.

Halcyon Ltd., the Washington-based real estate advisers hired by Youngstown to market the former B&O Railroad Station downtown, is ready to solicit proposals from potential development.

1974: Warren’s policemen return to work after two days of “blue flu” without having reached accord with the city on a new contract.

Ohio has slipped from first to sixth place in industrial development,” former Gov. James A. Rhodes says during a news conference at the Youngstown Sheraton Inn.

1964: Former Youngstowner Paul Arvin Jr., a graduate of Youngstown University and Kent State University, and his bride, the former Sheryl Cooke of Bay Village, are among 23 Americans killed when a Middle East Airlines jet crashes into the Persian Gulf. The couple was on its honeymoon.

More than 36,000 acres in 14 of Trumbull County’s 25 townships are under lease to individuals or companies speculating for petroleum and natural gas.

Youngstown University wins the Ohio College Debate Championship for first-year debaters at Heidelberg University. Members of the team are Ronald Towne, Rick Lanz, Ken Kendall and Ruth Anderson.

1939: A proposal to legalize greyhound racing in Ohio is killed when the House taxation committee votes unanimously to postpone action on enabling legislation.

Frank Purnell, president of Youngs-town Sheet & Tube Co., calls on the Youngstown district’s steel men to put the Community Chest drive over the top.

The DeBartolo Construction Co. submits the lowest of four bids at $63,589 for widening Market Street between the viaduct and Wayne Avenue.