Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2014. There are 126 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: The Battle of Long Island begins during the Revolutionary War as British troops attack American forces, who end up being forced to retreat two days later.

1883: The island volcano Krakatoa erupts with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claim some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

1939: The first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, goes on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.

1949: A violent white mob prevents an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, N.Y. (The concert was held eight days later.)

1957: The USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, is launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

1962: The United States launches the Mariner 2 space probe. (It flew past Venus in December 1962.

1964: President Lyndon Baines Johnson accepts his party’s nomination for a term in his own right, telling the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., “Let us join together in giving every American the fullest life which he can hope for.”

The Walt Disney movie musical fantasy “Mary Poppins,” starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: About two dozen former bunkers of the Keystone Ordnance Works in Crawford County, Pa., which were used to store explosives during World War II, are occupied by families, either as permanent residences or summer homes.

Two Youngstown area hotels with a combined total of nearly 200 rooms report full occupancy as the World Basketball League’s “Four on the Floor” championship opens in Youngstown.

Mahoning County is the only one in the five-county area that lacks a blanket policy on the amount of sick and vacation time that can be accumulated and cashed-out by retiring employees. Two county employees, brothers Henry and John Vukovich, retired with payments of $54,000 and $58,000 respectively.

1974: The Western Reserve Transit Authority mails bus passes to the homes of 9,000 Youngstown residents, along with packets explaining how the WRTA will transport children to and from the city’s 42 public schools.

U.S. Sen. Richard Schweiker, his wife Clare, and their five children arrive in New Castle on a multi-colored school bus the family is using on a 19-county re-election campaign trip.

A cornerstone and dedication service is set for Sept. 15 for the new Masonic Temple at 722 Springfield Road for F&AM Lodge 276.

1964: Herschel Kriger, a Canton lawyer and leader of the Ohio AFL-CIO, is in critical condition after suffering a heart attack on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, where he was delegate.

George W. Chestnut Jr. of Warren is elected president of the National Student Traffic Safety Conference meeting in Denver.

1939: United Engineering and Foundry Co. will not abandon its Youngstown plant, which employs 800 men, and will spend more than $300,000 for expansion. Abandonment of the Youngstown plant was suggested after United sold its Wooster machine shop to a Japanese firm.

Kuzma Kuharick says he is closing his New Deal Grocery at 530 Covington after three windows were broken and sugar was put in his gasoline tank when he refused hire a member of the Future Outlook League. Kuharick said the league sent him five prospective clerks, but when he gave them a test of 19 simple arithmetic problems, the best of them got three wrong.

About 5,000 people enjoy the second annual picnic of the Republic Steel Corp. at Idora Park, which featured sporting events, dancing contests, rides and a picnic supper.