YEARS AGO FOR JULY 4

Today is Thursday, July 4, the 185th day of 2019. 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.

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 U.S., James Monroe, dies in New York City at 73.

1910: In what is billed as “The Fight of the Century,” black world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson defeats white former champ James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nev.

1939: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees delivers his farewell speech in which he calls himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

1987: Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” is convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.

2017: The United States confirms that North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, as the North had boasted and the U.S. and South Korea had feared. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calls it a “new escalation of the threat” to the U.S.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Tammie Green is the winner of the second annual Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic, finishing the 54-hole tournament at Avalon Lakes with a 10-under-par 206. The first-place purse was $82,500.

A Howland man turns himself in to Niles police in the wounding of an LPGA golfer at the Great East Plaza. The man said he was target shooting in his backyard and believes a stray bullet wounded Kim Williams.

More than 300 exhibitors will participate in the 20th annual Market on the Green presented by the Canfield Historical Society.

1979: U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams, R-19th, is the main speaker at the dedication of Liberty Township’s new $1 million government center at 1315 Church Hill-Hubbard Road.

Trumbull Common Pleas Judge David Griffith dismisses a suit filed by 38 households near Hubbard High School seeking an injunction against the Hubbard Homecoming, arguing that it creates noise, congestion and litter and no longer serves its original purpose of bringing former residents back for a visit.

Seven refugees from Saigon arrive in Youngstown from New Orleans looking for work. Four are staying with Mrs. Lien Kardor, and three are living temporarily at the Hungarian United Presbyterian Church.

1969: The Youngstown area continues to boom, writes George R. Reiss, Vindicator business editor, with 110,000 industrial workers here enjoying the highest level of payrolls on record since World War II.

Youngstown’s 86-year-old department store, the G.M. McKelvey Co., is merged with the 109-year-old Higbee Co. of Cleveland.

A Lowellville man is granted a patent on a safety device for a hydraulic brake system. George Murray designed a safety brake cartridge that he hopes will replace the dual master cylinders in use.

1944: Seaman William V. Margetko, 24, of Youngstown, reported missing in action with the Merchant Marine in June, is one of four seamen taken prisoner by the Japanese after the liberty ship Richard Hovey was sunk in the Arabian Sea.

Lt. Frederick Stoll Jr. of Youngstown brought his Thunderbolt fighter-bomber back to his base in Normandy although he had six steel fragments in his eyes and was unable to see at all for five minutes.

For the majority of Youngstown’s residents, this will be the nation’s third World War II Independence Day and it will be a quiet, stay-at-home holiday. An Army show will be held at Stambaugh Auditorium, and there will be fireworks at Idora Park .