Sacramento History Photo of the Week Number 27!

Pictured above, in the fall of 1917, are Helen and Janet Kay, the daughters of David and Janet Kay. The picture was taken at a rally, held at the State Armory, located underneath what is today Interstate Highway 50.

As soon as the Great War started, interest in the Red Cross (ICRC) grew – folks who couldn’t pick up a rifle, because of age, gender or disability wanted an army to join and the ICRC was there. And, by the end of April, a headquarters had been established at Fourth and “J.”

What was required of Sacramento members early on was the ability to type, lift, sterilize and prepare surgical equipment, and drive (especially if you had your own car) so as to collect supplies and donations. Sewing was also in demand and Sac High offered 125 female pupils to do as much.

The Southern Pacific shops immediately signed up 1,700 members. And while the capital city had formed its own chapter, Walnut Grove, North Sacramento, Auburn, Loomis, Newcastle and Stockton were all quick to establish chapters as well.

Fund drives were organized around the ICRC – in early May, county employees had raised $600.00 while Weinstock-Lubin had donated $3,034. The earliest goal for the IRC in Sacramento was $30,000.

The city also voted to levy a property value tax of two cents, just to fund the local chapter – for a total of $14,000. An additional method of funding came from a Red Cross thrift shop on Front Street. Clothing, books, scrap iron, even bones, donated by a local butcher shop, brought in funding for the organization.

Learn more about the Sacramento Red Cross as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Sacramento history photo of the week number 24!

In January of 1918, as America's involvement in the First World War was ratcheting up, bond drives were a common sight around the nation. In the case of Sacramento, millions of dollars were accrued. Motivational tools would abound as bond-buyers had their names printed in city papers while it was the community's responsibility to build this "Soldier of Freedom," as he stood against the wall of Sacramento's first and only (at the time) Federal building, the U.S. Post Office. Each section of the body represents a county within the Sacramento Valley. Sacramento County was represented by the soldier's rifle. The trick was simple - the more bond monies won by the county, the faster the respresentative body-part or accessory were placed on the soldier.

Mark your calendar as, on November 5 at 6:30, the Central Library will be presenting The Great War in the Great Valley: Sacramento During the First World War. The program will include discussion on the city and War and a presentation of photos of Sacramento during World War I.

This photo and many more like it can be found on the Central Library's Third Floor, which is where one can view both the Sacramento Bee and Union back into the mid-nineteenth century.

On This Memorial Day Weekend...Sacramento History Photo of the Week: Issue No. 17!

As a young resident of Alkali Flat at 1315 “H” Street, Hugo Frank Wallner was a 1913 graduate of Sacramento High School and a bank teller at the California National Bank. In February 1916, the 25-year-old won an adding contest at the Travelers Hotel on Fifth and “J” Streets. He was able to list an amazing total of one hundred checks in one-minute, thirty-one seconds. A few years later in the spring of 1918, Wallner was married to Miss Freda Caldarella. Just weeks after marrying, Wallner was dispatched to France, serving as a clerk in the 91st Infantry Division. Although holding a task that would seemingly keep him out of harm’s way, Wallner was sent into combat in September of 1918. According to his Lieutenant, he died of wounds suffered during an attack in the Epinonville sector of the Argonne. This made him one of the over one-hundred Sacramentans – and the only Alkali Flat resident – to die in the Great War. His heartbroken Freda never remarried and died in San Francisco in 1983.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.