On this page we will look back at life in the city during the war years. Here we will provide the visitor with the stories making the news, what was happening in sports and entertainment, city politics, the social scene and the prominent people at the time. We will also recount the events occurring in the war on that day. So, check back often for new updates.
To share your family or neighborhood stories, please email PhillyWWIyears@gmail.com
TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA – MONDAY, JULY 26, 1915
The forecast today calls for partly cloudy skies with light winds. The high will be around 83° with the low about 60°.
They came today on crutches and in wheelchairs with heads bowed to the Roman Catholic Church of St. Ann, Lehigh Avenue and Memphis Street. They came by the hundreds, the lame and the halt, the blind and those in pain suffering from numerous maladies to celebrate the Mass and pray on the feast day of the patron saint of this beautiful edifice in Port Richmond. They were also there to see the bones of the Saint kept in a reliquary.
The morning started with a solemn procession by Italian parishioners carrying Italian and American flags led by a detachment of mounted police. Next came young girls and boys all dressed in pure white carrying flowers and paintings of the Saint. At 10:00am a High Mass was said after which the bones of the Saint were removed from the reliquary and placed on the altar where the faithful touched and kissed them and prayed that they might be returned to health or at least have their suffering lessened.
In national news, Federal officials will join those from Illinois to investigate the sinking of the Eastland. As of today 816 bodies have been recovered while 720 passengers are still unaccounted for. It was also learned today that Mrs. Nellie Fitzgerald, 28 years old and her 3 year old daughter Dorothy (shown below) of this city, died on the ship. Mrs. Fitzgerald, who lived with her parents at Baltimore Avenue & Williams Street, had been visiting her husband’s relatives in Chicago. Her husband John is in the Marine Corps stationed in Cuba. He is returning to Philadelphia to bury his wife and daughter at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Also in local news, a campaign begun by Police over the weekend to curtail “mashers” in Fairmount Park resulted in the arrest of 15 men between the ages of 17 and 22 years old. The men arrested were charged with unwanted flirting and annoying women and girls. They appeared before Magistrate Boyle today at the 39th Street & Lancaster Avenue station and were given fines of $5.00 or 5 days in jail.
WAR NEWS
On the eastern front, 2 of Russia’s strongest fortresses on the Narew River, Pultusk and Rozan, have been taken by the German Army. These strongholds protected Warsaw from the northeast. The Germans and Austrians are now moving on Warsaw from all 4 directions. In the Dardanelles, a British submarine eluded Turkish warships, passed into the Sea of Marmora and into The Golden Horn, the harbor of Constantinople, where it sunk 2 gunboats and a steamship before returning safely to its base.
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