On this day, Aug. 4

1876 The unions of steel heaters and steel roll hands, in convention in Pittsburgh, merged to form the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. 1914 Britain declared war on Germany for invading Belgium; the United States proclaimed its neutrality in the mushrooming world conflict.

1944 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.) 1946 The 13-story, 500-room Roosevelt Hotel was purchased by Charles M. Morris and Norbert Stern for $1.8 million.

1996 On the final day of the Atlanta Olympics, Josiah Thugwane became the first Black South African to win a gold medal after he finished first in the marathon.

2009 George Sodini, of Scott, opened fire in a Collier LA Fitness center aerobics class, killing three women and wounding nine others. Sodini then killed himself. 2019 A masked gunman fired on revelers enjoying summer nightlife in a popular entertainment district of Dayton, Ohio, leaving nine people dead and 27 wounded; police said officers shot and killed the shooter within 30 seconds of the start of his rampage.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology). — Compiled by Alyssa Brown

Today’s birthdays: Actor-singer Tina Cole,

77. Actor-comedian Richard Belzer, 76. Football Hall of Famer John Riggins, 71. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,

65. Actor-screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton,

65. Hall of Fame track star Mary Decker Slaney, 62. Former President Barack Obama, 59. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens, 58. Actor Crystal Chappell,

55. Former race car driver Jeff Gordon, 49. Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, the former actor Meghan Markle, 39. Actor Abigail Spencer, 39.

Thought for today: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”