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 each day for new editions.
To share your family or neighborhood stories, please email PhillyWWIyears@gmail.com
TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA – WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1915
There will be another day of cloudy overcast skies with winds from the southwest. The high will be 72° with the low about 65°. Women’s suffrage in New Jersey is defeated. The campaign to amend the state’s constitution to allow women the vote was rejected today. Although the official count will not be available for a few days it is believed the measure lost by over 46,000 votes. Of the state’s 21 counties only Ocean County voted in favor of the amendment. Under New Jersey law a similar measure cannot be reintroduced for 5 years. However, suffrage leaders promised to continue the fight to secure the franchise for women.
On the social scene, The Mayor, Senator Penrose and many other prominent city personages attended the opening of the new Arcadia Café in the basement of the Widener building last night. The new restaurant will seat 500 diners and have both day and evening service. In business news, the Remington Arms Company at its plant in Eddystone is mobilizing 20,000 workingmen to fill an order from the Allied governments. The order is for 2,000,000 rifles. The company has engaged all available boarding houses in Chester and Eddystone to house the men pouring into the area for work.
On the sports beat, in football out at Easton, Lafayette College came back after last week’s 40 to 3 loss to Princeton and thrashed Delaware State 31 to 0. In High School soccer West Philadelphia defeated Central 5 to 1. And In boxing the new Hunting Park A.C. at Pulaski Hall has a 5 bout card tonight. The wind-up features two Nicetown rivals Johnny Krause against Tommy Cary.
WAR NEWS
On the western front, French artillery has silenced the German machine guns around Lihons. Artillery duels are continuing in the Champagne region between the Meuse and Moselle. Reports from American correspondents are that the Champagne has been laid waste. It is a vast pitted landscape littered with smashed trees and the remains of human bodies. In the east, the Germans are advancing northeast of Mitau in central Latvia about 25 miles from Riga. The Russians have had success in Bukowina forcing the Austrians to evacuate Czernowitz, the region’s capital. Also, reports are that the Czar and the Crown Prince Alexis (shown below) have left Tsarskoye-Selo, 15 miles south of St. Petersburg, and proceeded to the front to join the Russian forces.
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