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, OCTOBER 18, 1917
Today’s forecast calls for overcast skies with a chance of rain this evening and into tomorrow. Today’s high will be 62° with the low tonight near 49°. The first and only anti-aircraft gun in Pennsylvania resides in Adrmore. The gun is the property of the Ardmore Home Guard. It is equipped with a Hotchkiss one-pounder mounted on a special chassis produced by Autocar Company of Ardmore. The truck can also transport up to 15 men (shown below).
Those wearing the uniform of the United States will enjoy free admission today to the following locations: The Strand Theatre, Germantown & Venango; the Central Y.M.C.A. and Old St. Stephen’s Club, 19 South 10th Street where motions pictures will be shown; the Astronomical Observatory at the University of Pennsylvania; 1024 Chestnut Street where a boxing match and vaudeville show will be presented by the Mothers’ Army and Navy Camp Committee; and an Old Fashion Social organized by the Christian Endeavor Society of the M.E. Church at the Navy Yard.
Philadelphia’s Red Cross units that are preparing comfort kits for our boys overseas always include cigarettes as part of the package. But not for those kits going to women. Mrs. George Horace Lorimer, who heads the Independence Square Red Cross, said “The conception of a nurse at her duties with a cigarette in her mouth is foreign to us.” She declared “I don’t believe our American nurses abroad would appreciate the enclosure of smokes in their kits.” It is known that French nurses smoke cigarettes while off duty. It is unclear whether English nurses do.
On the sports scene, the Interscholastic Soccer League opens this afternoon with Central High meeting the School of Pedagogy at Houston Field, 29th & Somerset Streets. And tonight the A’s will be saying goodbye to Ping Bodie and Bill Meyer. A dinner will be held at the Harry Davis Republican Club in their honor. Ping returns home to San Francisco tomorrow while Bill Meyer is heading to his home in Knoxville. Tonight’s entertainment will include singing by Chief Bender and “Bullet Joe” Bush.
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