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 – THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1915
Today’s forecast calls for another day of moderately cloudy skies with light winds from the northwest. Today’s high will be a mild 75° with the low tonight 66°.
It is Welsh day at Willow Grove Park and 10,000 Welshmen from the Philadelphia area and Luzerne, Schuylkill, Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties came to celebrate and enjoy the refreshments and amusements. Welsh Day has been held since 1907 under the auspices of the First Welsh Presbyterian Church, 21st Street & Fairmount Avenue. The day began by the singing of the Welsh national anthem “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”.
The old Stephen Girard farm property in South Philadelphia is henceforth to be called Girard Farms. The land is located between 17th and 22nd Streets from Porter to Shunk Streets and from 21st & Shunk Street to Passyunk Avenue. And out around 70th Street & Lansdowne Avenue a gypsy camp has sprung up. Along with musical entertainments visitors can watch the group’s dancing bears perform (shown below).
In national news, the United States today forwarded its 3rd and final reply to Germany regarding the Lusitania sinking. The note consists of 1200 words and took 2 hours to transmit via cable first to Copenhagen and then onto Berlin where it will be decoded by our embassy and then delivered to the German Minister of Foreign Affairs. The note is signed by Secretary of State Lansing who refused to discuss its contents until Saturday.
In baseball today the Athletics game out in Cleveland has been postponed due to rain. At National League Park, the Phillies opened their series with Cincinnati by splitting a doubleheader. The Reds took the 1st game 6 to 1 with the Phillies winning the nightcap 3 to 1.
WAR NEWS
On the western front, infantry engagements have resumed in the Vosges Mountains and in Alsace between French and German forces. In the Alps, 500,000 Austrian and Italian troops are facing each other in a ferocious battle on a 60 mile front along the Isonzo River. The prize being fought over is the Austrian city of Gorizia. The Italians are making progress but at a terrible cost in lives. The Austrian defenders are likewise paying a heavy price but at the moment are holding their lines.
In the east, the Russian War Office in Petrograd admitted today that Warsaw may have to be abandoned. Also supposedly the Czar has gone to the front to stand with his troops. The Czarina attended a special service in the Kamian Cathedral to pray for Russia’s soldiers. In southern Poland, the Lublin-Cholm Railway is being demolished by German artillery. That railway hub supplies the Russian cities of Kiev and Odessa. The Germans assert that over 80,000 Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner in the last 3 days.
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