21 WFMJ archives / June 6, 1954 | The Erie Railroad allowed Youngstown to name two of its new $200,000 sleeping cars after the city. The "Spirit of Youngstown" was christened by Mrs. Frank X. Kryzan 71 years ago. From left, Stanley F. McGranahan, Erie general manager for the Western District; George P. Finnegan, Youngstown Chamber of Commerce; Mrs. Kryzan and Mayor Frank X. Kryzan; Mrs. Frank Steiner and C.D. Watson, winners of a chamber of commerce contest to name the cars. The second car was named "Spirit of Youngstown." 

June 14

2000: Ceratium, an alga not previously observed at Meander Reservoir, is responsible for a fishy taste and odor in the water being drunk by 300,000 customers of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District. 

Clarence R. Smith Jr. is donating his family's mineral collection, valued at $750,000, to Youngstown State University. Smith's father, Clarence Sr., started donating minerals to the geology department in the 1960s. The collection will be displayed in the lobby of Moser Hall. 

Liberty Police Sgt. Toby Meloro is credited with saving Frank Bistrica from his burning house on Middle Drive. Meloro was overcome by smoke after re-entering the house to search for children that neighbors said might be there. They were not.

 

1985: The Koppers Co. announces that its 70-year-old tar-processing plant on Logan Avenue, which employs 69 workers and truck drivers, will be closed by the end of the year. Plant manager John J. Murray says the closing was inevitable due to the effect steel and aluminum imports are having on the two industries that supply his plant with by-products.  

Following a discussion with the school nurse, the Leetonia Board of Education unanimously agreed to continue the human sexuality component that has been taught to eighth graders as part of their health classes for five years. The class covers physiology, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, and the pros and cons of abortion. 

Susan Keefe, president of Trumbull County Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says the mayor should appoint a task force to study whether the city's reputation for being soft on drunken drivers is fact or fiction. 

 

1975: Sidney Rigelhaupt, a retired Mahoning County Common Pleas judge, will be honored by his alma mater, Youngstown State University, with an honorary Doctor of Law degree. 

Ohio Edison files for a 21.8 percent rate increase with the Federal Power Commission, which would allow the company to raise the price of wholesale power supplied to 20 communities, including Hubbard, Niles, and Columbiana Village. 

Daniel Armatore, 53, of Youngstown, was critically wounded by two teenage robbers at the Shultz Mobil Station on Stewart Avenue. 

 

1950: John Borton, a 17-year-old captain of the Alliance High School football and basketball teams, is elected governor of the annual Boys State, sponsored by the American Legion, at Camp Perry. 

Youngstown's population is 167,643, a decrease of 77 people over the past 10 years, while Mahoning County's population increased by 14 percent to 256,906, according to the 1950 census.

Four hundred workers in the Salvation Army's campaign for a $120,000 capital improvement fund are on the campaign trail after a rousing kick-off dinner at the YMCA.