Readers of the Star-Telegram on September 15, 1914 read these articles and ads:
When World War I began on July 28 thousands of Americans had been caught in Europe. (America would not enter the war until April 6, 1917.) A group of Fort Worth residents told of some anxious moments while trying to get out of Germany after one member of the group threw a chocolate to a soldier.
It was a war in which two new technologies—the automobile and the aeroplane—would be drafted and adapted with armor and armament.
But old technologies still had their appeal. J. B. Fuller hotwired a horse and buggy and took them for a joy ride. He could not explain how he started out in Grapevine and ended up in Dallas but added that a quart of whiskey had been riding shotgun.
The Federal League was an “outlaw” third baseball major league that existed in 1914 and 1915.
They came, they sawed, they conquered (briefly): Four men sawed their way out of jail, one of them for the second time in two days.
This ad was a 1914 version of the Amber Alert.
The maker of Arrow detachable shirt collars had a new model called the “Norman.” Two for a quarter. The Paul Waggoner who ordered a custom Pierce-Arrow car ($144,000 today) surely was E. Paul Waggoner, twenty-five-year-old son of millionaire W. T. Waggoner. Note that the “Heard Along Automobile Row” column artwork was drawn by Jay Plangman.
Stripling Department Store gave a preview of fall styles for women. Note that the ad says that all streetcars pass the store. W. C. Stripling had opened his department store in Fort Worth in 1893.
Principal R. L. Paschal announced that Central High School would have a football team come autumn. In 1914 Central High was located on South Jennings (now Homes of Parker Commons) after Fort Worth High burned in 1910 and before the high school we call “Green B. Trimble Tech” opened in 1918. (More on the complicated history of these schools and their buildings here.)
Out on South Main at Sawyer’s grocery store, for thirty-five cents you could pick a peck of potatoes.
The Sawyer Building today.
