YEARS AGO

Today is Monday, July 4, the 186th day of 2016. 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 United States Military Academy officially opens at West Point, N.Y.

1826: Fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both die .

1831: The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, dies in New York City at age 73.

1966: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act.

1976: America celebrates its bicentennial with daylong festivities.

1995: The space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir part after spending five days in orbit docked together.

2006: Discovery lifts off in the first Independence Day shuttle launch.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: Five members of a Sharon family are killed when their car collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 80 at the Ohio border. Dead are Benjamin Keller, 28; his wife, Rita M., 25; and daughters Amy, 8; Angela, 4, and Dana, 2. Another sister, Deana. 7, is in serious condition at Tod Children’s Hospital.

Craig Beach Police Chief J. Willard Clonch has a growing collection of 2,800 police insignia patches he and his wife, Sylvia, have collected while on vacation. One is from the nonexistent police departments on TV’s “Hill Street Blues,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “T.J. Hooker.”

Youngstown is using a $1.3 million federal loan to purchase 38 properties in an area bounded by Scott, Madison, Ford and Belmont avenues for development of a medical corridor along Belmont.

1976: More than 800 people attend the Mahoning-Youngstown Bicentennial Commission’s grand ball at the Idora Park Ballroom.

Youngstown district delegates to the Democratic National Convention are coalescing around U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio as Jimmy Carter’s vice-presidential candidate.

A towering red oak tree at Belle Street Southeast and Hazelwood Southeast in Warren is designated by the International Society of Arboriculture and the National Arborist Association as one of 200 Bicentennial Trees in the nation. Landscaper George Gaumer estimates that the tree was about 10 feet tall when the nation was born. It now stands at 92 feet.

1966: The Ohio Board of Education recommends a Mahoning County Joint Vocational School District with a new school costing $3.3 million and an annual operating cost of $612,000.

Lightning strikes the home of Augusta Geis on West Boulevard in Boardman, causing $10,000 in damage.

More than 650 people see Rick Hum and his slick racer, “The Humbug” flash to victory in the Columbiana annual Jaycees Soap Box Derby. Second goes to Mike Morrison.

1941: Passenger traffic on the two airlines serving Youngstown Municipal Airport is far exceeding expectations. Station Manager Charles Clary for United and Thomas Morrison for Pennsylvania Central are unable to fill requests for reservations.

Major Edward J. Tolle of Youngstown is assigned to the Army War College in Washington with the adjutant general’s department.

John Morrison of Youngstown, as national commander, heads a group of eight district men elected to national posts at the convention of the British War Veterans Association of America at the fifth annual convention in Pittsburgh.