The Frohsinn Society, Ninth Avenue and 12th Street, Altoona, hosted a baby contest Aug. 22, 1953. The babies are (from left) Queen Deborah Reighard, Princess Regina Kohler and Grand Dutchess Star Filer. Regina won a gold cup. The photo was submitted by Regina “Jeannie” (Kohler) Boyles of Altoona.

The Frohsinn Society, Ninth Avenue and 12th Street, Altoona, hosted a baby contest Aug. 22, 1953. The babies are (from left) Queen Deborah Reighard, Princess Regina Kohler and Grand Dutchess Star Filer. Regina won a gold cup. The photo was submitted by Regina “Jeannie” (Kohler) Boyles of Altoona.

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 on this date

March 14, 1951

The Altoona YMCA, Frederick G. Grimshaw president of the board of directors, was celebrating its 75th anniversary with a banquet and oldtimers recognition program at the Juniata Pavilion. All programs at the Y had been canceled so everyone could attend.

March 14, 1976

Desiree A. Boulware, 4, and her sister, Nicole J. Boulware, 2, were killed in a fire at 118 E. Third Ave., Altoona.

March 14, 2001

Molotov cocktails were thrown on the roof of District Justice Elizabeth Doyle causing at least $5,000 in damages leading Blair County President Judge Thomas Peoples to accuse the commissioners of not having enough security at government offices.

March 14, 2016

The Altoona office of the Center for Independent Living of South Central Pennsylvania had installed video phones for the deaf or hard of hearing through either sign language or with an interpreter.

March 15, 1951

Blair County School Superintendent James E. Butts reported that the cost of transporting the 4,933 students in Blair County’s 14 school districts was $111,357 and total mileage for one year was 477,918. A total of 59 buses and two automobiles were being used.

The Atlantic Refining Company held a meeting of its salesmen at the Penn Alto Hotel to explain the process of turning crude oil into gasoline. Jack Livingston and Jack Hastings of Philadelphia gave a demonstration of the power of gasoline to explode using a long glass tube.

March 15, 1976

The Altoona Junior Story League, with Wendy Orange as president and Michelle McCall as vice president, celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Penn Alto Hotel. Club sponsor Ruby Crumm also attended.

The Quill and Scroll Society of Altoona Area High School, Kevin Perry president and chairman of the upcoming event, was to host a meeting of the Central Pennsylvania Scholarstic Press Association and Caucus (CENPAC) in April with journalism students from 14 counties invited.

March 15, 2001

Altoona Hospital announced plans to build an out-patient surgery center and operating rooms on nearby parking lots. It had to decide if they wanted full ownership or doctors group ownership.

Sam Williams, commander of the 298th U.S. Army Reserve unit on Pleasant Valley Boulevard, told Altoona City Council he wanted the troop to become more active in the community like Toys for Tots, helping Boy Scout troops, Big Brothers, cleaning up after floods and other activities. Councilman Ron Reidell, a Vietnam veteran, agreed to liaison with the 298th.

March 15, 2016

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Matthew Leonard spokesman and Kathleen Kane, PA Attorney General, appropriated $250,000 for agencies that counsel victims of abuse by the clergy in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

Altoona City Manager Marla Marcinko said that City Council was considering an ordinance called “Protection of Public Property” that ensured that the city was compensated for damage to its property by construction and demolition work, and also a “land bank” to deal with blighted properties.

National, world news on this date

March 14:

In 1879, Albert Einstein, who would revolutionize physics and the human understanding of the universe, was born in Ulm, Germany.

In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced Ruby to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)

In 1967, the body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In 1973, future U.S. senator and presidential candidate John McCain was released from North Vietnamese captivity after being held as a prisoner of war for over five years.

In 1990, the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies held a secret ballot that elected Mikhail S. Gorbachev to a new, powerful presidency.

In 1995, American astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to enter space aboard a Russian rocket as he and two cosmonauts blasted off aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, headed for the Mir space station.

March 15:

In 44 B.C., on the “ides of March,” Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators, including Brutus and Cassius, who feared Caesar was working to establish a monarchy.

In 2012, convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich entered a federal prison in Colorado, where the 55-year-old Democrat began serving a 14-year sentence for corruption. (He was released in February 2020 after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence; Trump pardoned Blagojevich in February 2025.)

In 2018, a pedestrian bridge under construction over a busy Miami highway collapsed, crushing vehicles; six people died and 10 were injured.

In 2019, a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, while livestreaming the massacre. (Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to 51 counts of murder and other charges.)

In 2022, Russia stepped up its bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, while an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.

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