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 – TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1915
The city will see increasingly cloudy skies today with the chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. The high will reach 84° and the low about 65°.
Philadelphia has now joined New York in having a full time “Hotel de Gink” (shown below with some of its operating committee). The lodging will be located at 339 North 9th Street. Unlike the Bellevue-Stratford and the Waldorf Astoria the smart set staying here needs no credentials. They are the poor, unemployed, hungry and unwashed of this city needing a place to sleep and a bite to eat. The bed is the floor and board will be whatever is available that day. But the Hotel is not for bums. It’s for men looking for work. Applicants will get a 3 day stay for free while they look for work. Once a job is found they will be charged .10¢ a month as membership dues.
The English are coming. And they are coming to make war. But fear not, they are not Red Coats but magpies. The City Forestry Bureau after trying all scientific methods available to rid Vernon Park, Germantown & Chelten Avenues, of caterpillars and other destructive insects has turned to Mother Nature. The pests have been ruining the trees and shrubbery of the Park and nothing worked to stop them. So, English magpies have been imported to take up the fight. Magpies are extinct in this part of the world so 3 males and 2 females were imported to eat well and multiply.
In International affairs, Germany’s Ambassador to the United States, Johann von Bernstorff, has sent a message to Secretary of State Lansing asking him to delay any action regarding the sinking of the Arabic until his government has the opportunity to provide a formal explanation of the incident. Those in diplomatic circles believe this is a first step in Germany’s attempt to prove the sinking was not an intentionally unfriendly act toward the United States requiring a drastic response.
On the sports beat, in baseball it has been confirmed that the Cleveland Indians traded outfielder Joe Jackson to the Chicago White Sox for $31,500.00 and 3 players. At National League Park today the Phillies lost to the Cubs 6 to 1. Out in St. Louis the A’s dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Browns.
WAR NEWS
In Eastern Europe a huge German army is attacking Brest Litovsk. A second German army is also advancing on the fortress city of Grodno. These two cities are the final Russian strongholds on their 2nd line of defense. In the Middle East one of the most powerful chieftains in the Arabian Peninsula, Said Idriss, has revolted against the Turks. Idriss has gathered his followers and intends to march on Hodeida and free the Yemen region from the Turks.
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