10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “School board members honored developer Tim Swenson and president of the Loranger Parent Teacher Organization Dru LaDuke at Thursday night’s meeting for their fund-raising efforts with ‘District Desserts.’ … School Board Chairman Laura Bolduc presented the two men with plaques, while LaDuke and Swenson presented all the participants with certificates.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “A meeting between the Saco Taxpayers’ Protective Association and Saco City Council to discuss publication of a tax list will be public, Saco Mayor Paul Reny said today. A private meeting of the two groups had been suggested at a meeting of the City Council Tuesday night to discuss the subject. The association has been seeking a publicatiom of the tax list.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “The members of the local Hebrew congregation who at present are observing the New Years festival, will also observe the day of atonement, the services to be held at the synagogue on Bacon street. … The day brings the people together, because they share the limitations of human nature.” — Jeff Lagasse

Today in History

Today is Friday, Sept. 11, the 254th day of 2015. There are 111 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1714, the forces of King Philip V of Spain overcame Catalan defenders to end the 13-month-long Siege of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. In 1814, an American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812. In 1857, the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place in present-day southern Utah as a 120-member Arkansas immigrant party was slaughtered by Mormon militiamen aided by Paiute Indians. In 1936, Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator. In 1941, groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. In a speech that drew accusations of anti-Semitism, Charles A. Lindbergh told an America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that “the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration” were pushing the United States toward war.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 11, 2001, America faced an unprecedented day of terror as 19 al-Qaida members hijacked four passenger jetliners, sending two of the planes smashing into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania, resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths.

Ten years ago Weeping relatives marked the fourth anniversary of 9/11 with prayers, solemn remembrances and heartfelt messages at the site where the World Trade Center collapsed. Japanese voters handed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s ruling coalition a landslide victory in elections for the lower house of parliament.

Five years ago Speaking at the Pentagon, President Barack Obama appealed to the nation to honor the memory of the Sept. 11 victims by hewing to the values of diversity and tolerance. In New York, a morning ceremony of remembrance gave way to an afternoon of protests and counter-protests over a proposed Islamic center near ground zero.

One year ago In a joint statement, 10 Arab states promised to “do their share” to fight Islamic State militants, but NATO member Turkey refused to join in. South Korean teen Hyo-Joo Kim made history with the lowest round in a major tournament, a faultless 10-under 61 to open the Evian Championship. — By The Associated Press