Local history

50 years ago: May 20, 1976

Ardie Dillen of Altoona Enterprises, Blair County Commissioner John Gardner and State Sen. Robert Jubelirer participated in the groundbreaking of the William W. Ward Industrial Park in Greenfield Township near Claysburg. More than 1,000 jobs were expected to be created.

25 years ago: May 20, 2001

A 23-year-old Walt Disney artist visited Penn State Altoona from California for the Westsylvania Arts and Heritage Festival and drew many famous Disney characters for the students. Charter Communications sponsored the visit after adding the Disney Channel and Toon Disney to their cable service.

10 years ago: May 20, 2016

Fourth grade students at Bellwood-Antis Myers Elementary School, Terri Harpster principal, were raising $15,000 so that a well could be dug in the East African country of South Sudan in an effort called The Myers Project.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Wednesday, May 20, the 140th day of 2026. There are 225 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On May 20, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which was intended to encourage settlement west of the Mississippi River by making federal land available for private ownership and farming. About 10% of the land area of the United States (270 million acres) would be privatized by 1934.

Also on this date:

– In 1861, North Carolina seceded from the Union, becoming the 10th state to join the Confederacy early in the American Civil War.

– In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis obtained a U.S. patent for putting rivets in men’s work pants to prevent wear and tear, leading to the large-scale production of denim blue jeans.

– In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to Paris, France. He completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight of more than 3,600 miles in just over 33 hours.

– In 1956, the United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

— The Associated Press