This is a view of 11th Avenue and 13th Street in Altoona. Flags and bunting decorated the thoroughfare for the 1912 War Governors 50th Anniversary Parade. The banner reads “Headquarters Loyal War Governors Semi-Centennial Conference INFORMATION.” The tall building on the left is the Central Trust bank, and the one-story building (center-right) is the laundry building for the Logan House Hotel, conference headquarters. The photo was submitted by Michael Farrow of the Blair County Historical Society.

Readers are encouraged to send or deliver old local photographs of general interest for use in Yesteryear. Information about people and places should be included. Photos must be 30 years old or older and should be sent to Yesteryear, Altoona Mirror, P.O. Box 2008, Altoona, PA 16603, or emailed to community@altoonamirror.com. For more information, call Brenda Carberry, community news coordinator, at 814-946-7459.

Local news compiled by Tim Doyle. National, world news from The Associated Press.

Local news on this date

Aug. 23, 1950

The Altoona Chamber of Commerce, J.E. Holtzinger president, held a banquet at the Penn Alto Hotel to welcome the newest industry to Blair County, The National Radiator Co., Robert S. Waters president, which planned to build a plant at Wye Switches outside Altoona.

Aug. 23, 1975

Girl Scouts from Hollidaysburg Troop 624, Helen Ritchey adviser, helped Robert F. Lauver, bicentennial office director, mail out bicentennial maps of Blair County in special mailing tubes.

Aug. 23, 2000

After more than 80 years in service, Blue and White Bus Lines Inc., along with its sister corporation Lincoln Coach Lines, was to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which required liquidation of all assets to pay off creditors. They had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. A fatal bus crash involving four buses and too large insurance premiums were given as causes.

Aug. 23, 2015

About 100 former students from the Cathedral/McNelis Elementary School on 13th Avenue in downtown Altoona gathered in front of the school for a reunion before the school was razed.

Aug. 24, 1950

The new Veterans Administration Hospital in Altoona was to hold an open house on Sept. 9 and 10 and admit the first patients on Sept. 18. The patient capacity was 200. The formal dedication was set for Nov. 22.

James E. Butts, superintendent of Blair County Schools, announced that 63 drivers had successfully completed tests given by Pennsylvania State Police to operate Blair County school buses in the 1950-51 term. A state law required the testing of school bus drivers in all counties in the state; 52 buses also passed inspection at the state highway garage in Hollidaysburg. They were equipped with red and amber safety lights for the first time.

Aug. 24, 1975

McMurtrie Construction Co. of Bellwood advertised the building of a modern split-level home with a two-car garage, 1½ baths, living room, hall and three bedrooms for $24,900.

Circus Kirk, the only all-student circus in the United States, was to be in Altoona on Aug. 29. It was to set up next to Mason’s Department Store on Pleasant Valley Boulevard. The circus toured through nine states on the East Coast. It was owned by Dr. Charles W. Boas, a teacher at York College who had experience with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus among others.

Aug. 24, 2000

The Altoona Area School Board set dates for Meet the Teacher nights for parents of students at Altoona Area High, Roosevelt Junior High, Keith Junior High and all the district’s elementary schools, planned by the Q-SITE Council. Q-SITE stood for Quality Schools Involving Teams for Excellence.

Lamar Advertising Co. of Louisiana was awarded a $410,000 contract by Altoona City Council to install 60 benches and 60 shelters along Amtran bus routes. The company would recover their investment by advertising on billboards in the shelters.

Aug. 24, 2015

PennDOT’s plan for the Route 22 intersection improvements in Frankstown Township was to require the temporary removal of at least 31 headstones from the Geeseytown Cemetery and also a retaining wall. The headstones would be returned after the project was completed.

Kathy Moore of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work was in Altoona to give Blair County Children & Youth Services employees a seminar on Child Welfare Resources.

National, world news on this date

Aug. 23

In 1914, Japan declared war against Germany in World War I.

In 1970, the Salad Bowl strike began, organized by farm labor leader Cesar Chavez; between 5,000 to 10,000 laborers walked off the job, leading to the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history.

In 2000, A Gulf Air Airbus crashed into the Persian Gulf near Bahrain, killing all 143 people aboard.

In 2003, former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, died after another inmate attacked him in a Massachusetts prison.

Aug. 24

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the still-under-construction Capitol and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida; the storm resulted in 65 deaths and caused more than $26 billion in damage across Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.