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. So, check back often for new editions. To share your family or neighborhood stories, please email PhillyWWIyears@gmail.com

TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA – THURSDAY MAY 3, 1917

The weather forecast calls for fair skies over the city today with increasing cloudiness this evening. The high will reach 58° and the low tonight about 46°. For the first time since the Revolutionary War the British flag was unfurled at Independence Hall this morning. The flags of Great Britain and France now fly on either side of Old Glory at the front entrance to the building.

Fox Chase and the adjoining borough of Rockledge will organize a home defense league and enroll every man, old and young. The men will be given military training 2 nights a week. Also the league will assign unused land to the members for cultivation. On the scholastic scene, Haverford College has instituted a class instructing students in the art of milking cows. Students will also be engaged in plowing up a portion of the campus between the skating rink and the soccer field to plant vegetables.

In business news, the John B. Stetson Company announced today that a 10% wage increase will be given to all employees. The over 5000 employees plan a street demonstration after closing hours today as a show of thanks to the company.

WAR NEWS

Ulysses S. Grant IV (shown below), the grandson of the 18^th President of the United States and General of the Army, has enlisted as a private into the 7^th New York Regiment. Private Grant is a 1915 cum laude graduate of Harvard University receiving a degree in geology.

Today the United States Treasury provided a $100,000,000.00 war loan to Italy. It is expected the majority of the loan funds will be spent in the United States on needed war material. On the high seas, German submarines have sunk 3 ships; two of them were American and one British. The British vessel was a troopship named the “Arcadian” which was sunk in the Mediterranean with the loss of 279 lives. The American ships were the “Margaret B. Rouss”, a schooner, and the “British Sun”, an oil tanker. No lives were lost on the American ships.

In the Balkans, German and Bulgarian artillery have decimated the ancient city of Monastir in Macedonia. The city and surrounding areas are being defended by an allied army composed of Serbian, British, French, Italian and Russian units.

GET YOUR COPY OF PHILADELPHIA: THE WORLD WAR I YEARS BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW.