21  WFMJ archives / December  1954 | Federal Street at night reflected the joy of the Christmas season. This photo, taken 69 years ago, showed Youngstown's main downtown shopping district looking east.

December 25

1998: A 1997 national study says residents of Mahoning and Trumbull counties are above average in their giving to charitable causes, while Columbiana, Mercer, and Lawrence counties fall in the average range. 

The family of Jessica Anderson, 18, of Boardman, pauses on Christmas to thank the many people, some strangers, who gave support when Jessica was shot in the head by a neighbor boy playing with a pistol. She underwent successful surgery, and although she lost an eye, she remains upbeat and keeps busy. When she was two, Jessica underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. Her mother says Jessica "is our (Christmas) gift."

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn two cases in which the suit claims that Beaver County Orphans Court has been too quick in terminating parental rights. 

1983: Many Mahoning Valley residents are greeted Christmas morning by cars that won't start and pipes that burst after temperatures drop to a record 10 degrees below zero. 

Angelica Wilson, who weighed one pound, four ounces when born August 9,  comes home from St. Elizabeth Hospital to spend Christmas with her parents, Michael and Carol Wilson, and brother George.

Abe Harshman, a former Youngstown finance director, former president of the Youngstown Board of Education, and long-active supporter of Jewish and Zionist causes, dies of a brain tumor at the age of 60.

1973: Irwin H. Ryan of Liberty is one of 12 Ohioans named by Gov. John Gilligan to the Ohio Commission on Aging.

Members of Jack C. Hunter's cabinet give the mayor and his wife matching "his" and "hers" bicycles.

The Ballet Western Reserve, Michael Falotico director, and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Franz Bibo conducting, present the "Nutcracker" at Powers Auditorium: tickets, $3.50 to $6.

 1948: Last-minute shopping in downtown Youngstown on Christmas Eve creates one of the worst traffic jams in city history.

A civilian group releases a report recommending pay increases averaging 15 percent for the armed forces, some of whom have received only token increases in the last 40 years. 

A masked bandit escapes with over $1,000 in a hold-up at the Borden Dairy Co. office on Market Street Ext.