Victor Curfman of Altoona, formerly of Roaring Spring, submitted this photo of Charlie Dick’s Gas Station and Convenience Store from 1933. It was located on Main Street in Roaring Spring, directly across from the old Nason Hospital. It was a popular place for town children who could earn and win “Charlie Dick Tickets” for dong tasks such as manning the Little League scoreboard and winning contests and games at the community park. Those tickets were worth 5 cents. It was also popular for the adults in the community as Charlie carried a large selection of cigars. This photo is from the Elmer Burket collection that is currently being preserved by the Blair County Genealogical 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

April 18, 1951

Altoona Mayor J. Chester Laughlin proclaimed April 20 as Arbor Day in Altoona and said that 15,000 sugar maple tree seedlings, donated by the William F. Gable Co. store, would be distributed to Altoona and Blair County school children to plant. This would also replace the thousands of trees destroyed in the December ice storm.

April 18, 1976

A warehouse at 11th and 12th streets along 13th Avenue, leased by Puritan Sportswear Corp. to store synthetic raw materials used to make shirts and sweaters, burst into flames and burned for three hours, sending 12 people, including five firemen, to the hospital for lung problems as the fire caused poisonous gas. The heat caused an explosion that blew out a wall. Damage was $2.5 million.

April 18, 2001

WJAC-TV in Johnstown won the Best Special News Report from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters for a series it did about heart health showing anchorman Marty Radovanic recovering from a heart attack and also writing and reporting on the story.

April 18, 2016

Valley View Nursing Home, the former Blair County Home sold this year to Ephram Lahasky of Lawrence, N.Y., and a silent partner, was having its name changed to Maybrook Hills Health and Rehab Center. Current admission was 185 which Lahasky hoped to raise to a capacity of 240.

April 19, 1951

Local Civil Defense director Col. W.A. Morgan announced that all paid and volunteer firemen in Blair County would undergo Civil Defense training with state certified instructor John C. Liebegott, county deputy coordinator, who underwent four years of training, in charge.

Catholic War Veterans Post 1691, Joseph Drass commander, was being established in Altoona with state CWV commander Frank Lamlein and first vice commander of the 17th District Jim Duncan attending the ceremony.

April 19, 1976

A chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons was being formed in Altoona with Margaret McDermit as the first president. Meetings were to be held at First United Methodist Church, 12th Avenue and 13th Street. State Director C. Waldo Johnston assisted the organization.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the commercial development of Parcel 19 by Center Associates. It would require the city to install sewer lines at a cost of $900,000. (The future Station Mall from 17th to 19th streets along 10th Avenue.)

April 19, 2001

In response to a petition to keep open the Hollidaysburg Car Shops from union and state officials to the Surface Transportation Board, Norfolk Southern Railroad said that the shops lost $7 million last year and denied that they said they would operate the shops “in perpetuatity” when they first purchased Conrail, saying they made projections — not commitments.

The Blair County Community Endowment, Jodi Cessna executive director, held a luncheon at the Calvin House and presented its second Blair County Philanthropy Award to G. William Ward. Attorney T. Dean Lower had received the first award.

April 19, 2016

Two underground circuit breakers failed at the same time, causing power failures in the downtown Altoona area that affected about 15,000 customers and most stores and restaurants, and also in the 15th Street area, with Penelec working around the clock to restore power.

The Altoona Area School Board authorized $9,500 to be used in a search for a new superintendent with Lanny Ross in charge, thus doing a search without having to hire a search consultant. Current Superintendent John Kopicki was taking another job.

National, world news on this date

April 18:

In 1906, the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires across the city. More than 3,000 people are believed to have been killed by the quake, which was estimated to have reached as high as 7.9 magnitude.

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

In 2015, a ship carrying migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya. As many as 700 people are believed to have drowned.

April 19:

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord — the start of an eight-year armed conflict between American colonists and the British Army.

In 1977, the Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa during training exercises in the Caribbean.

In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope in the first conclave of the new millennium; he took the name Benedict XVI.

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