The Birmingham School for Girls, founded in 1853 and now the Grier School for Girls, was described in this 1909 postcard view as being on the William Penn and Lakes to Sea Highways, two of Pennsylvania’s famous scenic routes between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie. The school stayed open during the summer season as Pine Heights Inn for travelers wishing a high-grade stopping place. The image was provided by Dr. 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 on this date

March 7, 1951

The Altoona School District, Robert L Thompson school secretary, reported that new lighting fixtures had been installed in Irving, Lowell and East End elementary schools to reduce eye strain for the students and 400 new lighting fixtures had been ordered for the Washington and other schools. Cost was about $9,000 per school.

March 7, 1976

Local 352 of the International Printing and Graphic Communications Union, William Miller president, presented life memberships to retired pressmen Carrol Lloyd (Altoona Mirror), Kenneth Foster (Wohlbruck & Miller) and Robert Bradley (Times Tribune Co.).

March 7, 2001

James Edwards of Sinking Valley was attempting to distribute a video called “The Jesus Video” to all 57,000 residents of Blair County, starting with Tyrone at 10,000 copies but first needed financing from area churches.

March 7, 2016

Garrett Heidler, a senior at Altoona Area High School, collected 123 pairs of jeans for an Altoona homeless shelter run by Family Services Inc., a national project called “Teens for Jeans.”

March 8, 1951

The Altoona Housing Authority, Frank Marsh secretary, announced that ground would be broken this month for the 120-unit Pleasant Village housing complex on Pleasant Valley Boulevard opposite the Veterans Hospital. Total cost was estimated at $1.337 million.

The Altoona City Building Inspector issued a permit to Peoples Natural Gas Co. to erect a garage, warehouse and two story office building in the city at 100-108 E. Bellwood Ave. at a cost of $167,000.

March 8, 1976

The Altoona School Guard Marching Unit Association, Mrs. James Berard coordinator, Mrs. Rita Schmitt president and SSgt. Ray Dunkel drill instructor, was selling miniature City of Altoona flags to finance their marching unit, which was to march in Pittsburgh Aug. 10.

The Altoona Region Poison Center, located at Mercy Hospital and open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, was giving out “Mr. Yuk” stickers to put on hazardous bottles and items that were poisonous as warnings. Speakers were available through personnel director Stephen Osarczuk.

March 8, 2001

The Van Zandt VA Hospital in Altoona, Betsy Helsel organizational support manager, had partnered with the Pittsburgh VA to try to get the waiting time for veterans’ doctor appointments down to the recommended 45-day wait. Altoona was at 60 days while it was more than 200 days in some counties.

Using Logan Boulevard, New Enterprise Stone & Lime delivered four of the fourteen 135-foot, 97.8-ton I-beams to the Blair County Convention Center to build a bridge on the Brush Run side of the Convention Center.

March 8, 2016

Martin Garrett of Roaring Spring helped organize Easter baskets for hospitalized children, called Easter for Eli, in memory of his 3-year-old son Elias, who died of cancer. The previous year, baskets were sent to Hershey, Pittsburgh and Danville.

Mayor Matt Pacifico, State Sen. John Eichelberger and State Rep. John McGinnis celebrated with a cake the 100th anniversary of the Altoona Planning Commission, making it the oldest municipal commission in Pennsylvania.

National, world news on this date

March 7

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for his telephone.

In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the demilitarized Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties.

In 1965, a march by more than 500 civil rights demonstrators was violently broken up at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; state troopers and a sheriff’s posse fired tear gas and beat marchers with batons in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

In 1975, the U.S. Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.

In 2010, filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, taking the prize for “The Hurt Locker.”

March 8

In 1817, a constitution was adopted formally creating the New York Stock & Exchange Board, forerunner of the New York Stock Exchange. The constitution laid out rules for transactions and brokers initially gathered twice daily in a rented room on Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds.

In 1917, protests against food rationing broke out in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), triggering eight days of rioting that resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the end of the Russian monarchy.

In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

In 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier won by unanimous decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden.

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