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 – THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1915
There will be cloudy skies over the city today with the high about 83° and the low near 67°.
A new rest center for women and girls has been opened in the business district in the yard of the Friends’ Meeting House at 12th & Market Streets. Twenty-five benches have been placed in the yard which will be open from Noon to 2:00pm. The rest center is operated by the Committee on Graveyards and Churchyards of the Playgrounds Association. Its purpose is to give working women a place to peacefully reside during their noonday recess. Additional locations are also being considered.
Two of the three soldiers injured in the explosion at the Frankford Arsenal on Tuesday have died of their injuries. The soldiers were Crasileo Frasca and Arthur Rundlett. The third injured man, George Brown has been released from the hospital. James Harkins was killed in the blast on Tuesday. The Coroner’s office and the Commandant of the Arsenal are investigating the incident.
In Haiti, 900 marines are now ashore and maintaining order at Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien. There is a general belief there that the marines and sailors may become a permanent occupation. And in fact the State Department is making arrangements to have Haiti declared a “protectorate” if a stable government is not established.
In amateur baseball the Fralinger A.C. team (shown here) is in line for the championship of South Philadelphia.
The Fralinger 9 has piled up an impressive string of victories over other Philadelphia and South Jersey clubs including the Marine team at League Island on Saturday. Fralinger’s strength has led to a number of cancellations and they now have open dates. First-class teams looking for a game can contact them through Manager W.H. Holston, 1829 South 2nd Street or at Bell Telephone, Dickinson 5071. The team’s home field is at Meadow & Mifflin Streets. [EDITORS NOTE: Fralinger is better known today as one of the most prolific first prize winning string bands in the Philadelphia Mummers Parade.] In the professional game today the Athletics split a doubleheader with the Tigers at Shibe Park. The Phillies are out in Pittsburgh to open a 4 game series and lost the 1st contest 1 to 0.
WAR NEWS
Warsaw has fallen. German troops took the Polish capital overnight. The first to break through the defenses and enter the city were Bavarian troops under Prince Leopold (shown here).
The Russian garrison has fallen back over the Vistula River to Prage, an eastern suburb. All along the Polish-Galician front the Germans and Austrians are advancing. Field Marshal von Mackensen’s army is sweeping northward towards Warsaw. In the western theatre, Austrian artillery has intentionally destroyed the castle of Lizzana, known as “Dante’s Castle” because it is where the poet spent his exile. The castle was located between Mori and Rovereto on the left bank of the Adige Valley.
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