Local history

50 years ago: 1975

Acting Altoona Mayor Melvin I. Ellis said that the city had received permission from the U.S. Dept. of Housing to build two new fire stations, one at Broadway and Sixth Avenue in Juniata and one at Crawford Avenue and Sixth Street.

25 years ago: 2000

Graystone Manor in Tyrone, the former Adams Elementary School that developer Jeff Long converted to a 27-unit apartment for senior citizens, was to open the next day. The complex included a dining hall.

10 years ago: 2015

The Tyrone Chamber of Commerce, Rose Black executive director, and Tyrone Events, Sue Griep president, were planning a Tyrone Community Days celebration at DelGrosso’s

Amusement Park with an estimated 3,000 people to attend.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 6, the 218th day of 2025. There are 147 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history:

On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths.

On this date:

– In 1806, Emperor Francis II abdicated, marking the end of the Holy Roman Empire after nearly a thousand years.

– In 1825, Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia.

– In 1890, at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York, William Kemmler became the first person to be executed via the electric chair.

– In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

– In 1942, Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint session of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people’s motto remained, “No surrender.”

— The Associated Press