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 – SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1915
The heatwave continues today with the high reaching 90° and the low tonight about 76°. All the south Jersey shore resorts report record crowds and many of those visitors are from Philadelphia. Before dawn this morning perspiring families were lugging suitcases to ferries on the Delaware to get across to the New Jersey side and the trains to the beach. Extra cars have been added by every Railroad going to the seashore.
Dozens of boys who had the intention of taking a swim in the Darby Creek to escape the heat today had a quick change of plans. It seems Mose, an alligator has taken up residence in the creek and not one of the boys wants to be his breakfast, or lunch for that matter. Mose belongs to the Glenolden Fire Company. He was given to them as a gift along with Tillie, Mose’s female gator partner. Unfortunately, a few days back Tillie died and Mose has been disconsolate. So the firemen decided to take him from his tank and let him bask in the sunshine a bit. But Mose got away and slipped into the creek. The firemen are working on a plan to capture him.
At League Island today 700 marines of the 2nd Regiment, Advanced Base Brigade, boarded the U.S.S. Connecticut for Haiti (shown below). Four hundred additional marines will be picked up at Norfolk making the force 1100 strong. The reports from Haiti that 2 marines had been killed by revolutionists yesterday convinced Secretary of the Navy Daniels that swift and decisive action must be taken. As the Connecticut left the dock at 9:30am wives and sweethearts lined the shoreline waving goodbye as they wept.
In baseball, at Shibe Park today the A’s won! Weldon Wyckoff held the Cleveland Indians to just 3 hits, throwing the 1st shutout of his career as the Athletics took the win 1 to 0. The Phillies made up yesterday’s rain out with a doubleheader in St. Louis. The Phillies lost the opener 2 to 1 but came back with a vengeance in the closer, winning 8 to 0.
WAR NEWS
The Kaiser has been joined by his wife and daughter on the eastern front in anticipation of a triumphal entry into Warsaw. The Russian army is evacuating Warsaw. Petrograd is calling the withdrawal a military necessity. In preparation of leaving the Russians have removed all military equipment. Also, factories in the city have been dismantled or destroyed. Along the line of retreat all crops are being burned, bridges blown up and railroads torn up. The Germans have also taken the great fortified railway center of Lublin which is 95 miles from Warsaw. The loss of that city made the continued defense of Warsaw by the Russians virtually impossible.
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