21 WFMJ archives / September 9,  1975 | Plans for a Bicentennial monument of white granite to pay tribute to Youngstown's first settlers were unveiled 50 years ago during groundbreaking ceremonies at Spring Common Bridge and Federal Plaza. From left, Walter Damon, Mrs. Walter Schaff, Edward J. Hulme, Prosecutor Vincent Gilmartin, John Logue, Ted M. Kramer, and Louis Rich. 

September 8

2000:  Mayor George McKelvey delays signing a lease for Youngstown health department offices in the Oakhill Renaissance Place over the planned phone system. McKelvey insists that any call placed to a city office be answered by a human being, not a machine. 

Gov. Bob Taft says protecting Lake Erie is an Ohio priority, even if it means prioritizing it over tourism if necessary.

Austintown is getting another call center, a $2.1 million project by Teleperformance, a Paris-based company, that will initially hire between 400 and 600 people. 

 

1985: A monument to the Mahoning Valley's prominence in steelmaking, the 3,000-ton Big D blast furnace, falls to a dynamite charge. A crowd of about 200 lined Wilson Avenue to watch the demolition. 

The Vindicator publishes an eight-page special section marking 100 days since the May 31 tornadoes swept through the Valley. Photos and stories showed the initial damage and chronicled the efforts made to rebuild property and lives. 

The Evangelization Committee of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, chaired by Fran and John Amer of Canfield, launches its fall campaign with advertisements in each of the 40 newspapers in the six-county diocese.

 

1975: The family of a 21-year-old Adams Street man arrested in the rape of a 13-year-old girl fled their home under police escort after vandals stoned the house. Later, it was set on fire. 

An estimated 750 employees of Copperweld Corp.'s specialty steel division in Warren board buses for a one-day trip to Washington, D.C., to protest the company's takeover by a French holding company.

Robert A. Calcagni of Poland is named general manager of Commercial Shearing's Youngstown sales office. 

 

1950: The 1950 goal for the Community Chest drive is set at $581,099.

Judge Harold B. Doyle urges Youngstown employers to hire handicapped workers, saying it is good business. 

Youngstown steel plants are maintaining their grueling pace of operating at 106 percent of capacity, but are still struggling to keep up with the increasing demand for steel.