Events of 1916:  Very few towns in the anthracite coal region of Luzerne County have paved streets and only a few have regular garbage collection.  Cranberry, like other patch-towns, has no garbage collection, but has its open-vault privy cleared twice a year.

A soon to be next-door-neighbor, Leo Fellin, whose parents will own Fellin's Café at 21/23 West Cranberry Avenue in West Hazleton is born to Sylvester and Rose (Poli) Fellin on September 29, 1916.

In baseball, the New York Giants set a modern record with 26 consecutive wins, Branch Rickey joins the St. Louis Cardinal organization and stays until 1942 when he resigns and joins the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Of local interest, the Atlantic League of 1914 becomes the Pennsylvania State League of 1916.  The Pennsylvania State League of 1916 will become the Anthracite League of 1928 and eventually the Class D North Atlantic League of 1946 which will play games in the Cranberry Ball Park.  In football Georgia Tech beats Cumberland, Tennessee by a score of 222-0.  The Professional Golfers Association of America is formed by multimillionaire businessman Rodman Wanamaker while internationally, the Olympics are not held, due to the war. 

D.W. Griffith's movie "Intolerance" with Dorothy Gish is a failure following his much criticized release of "Birth of a Nation."  Charles Chaplin signs with Mutual for a record salary of $675,000 in the same year that the Goldwyn Picture Company is formed.  Top box-office stars are Mary Pickford, Francis X. Bushman, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and Norma Talmadge.  Musically, the hit tunes of the day include, "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and "Oh, How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wacki Woo."  Al Jolson remains a popular singer while on Broadway, the very popular and entertaining musical "Ziegfeld Follies" is a hit starring W. C. Fields, Will Rogers and Fannie Brice.

People are reading "Seventeen" by Booth Tarkington whose rival authors of the day include Ring Lardner, James Joyce, H. G. Wells, H. L. Mencken, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg.

Inflation is 11% and unemployment is 5.1% in the country, but it doesn't stop the Leichtman Ice Cream buisness from opening at 226 East Green Street in Hazleton where it remains well into the 1990s.  Nationally, the Boeing Co. is founded in Seattle, Washington by William Boeing.

More Events of 1916:  In Hazleton, after a fire, the Diamond Theater on Alter Street is rebuilt and reopens with its admission price set at 5¢ for children and 10¢ for adults.  Patrons of the Savoy Theater on Diamond Avenue collect special coupons handed out at each admission for chances on a new Chevrolet car or cash.  The Feeley Theater on N. Wyoming Street opens directly across from the Palace Theater.  The Feeley's slogan is "103 steps from Broad Street" and many patrons consider it the most opulent theater in Hazleton.  The third floor of the building is referred to as Feeley Hall and occupies more than 5,600 square feet of floor space where dances and boxing events are held.  Over the coming years boxing notables such as Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey will appear at Feeley Hall.

Some 1,600 Irish nationalists launch an Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland.  The uprising is put down several days later by the British, but fighting continues for five years until 1921 when an Irish Free State is created.  One of the signers of the treaty in 1921 is Michael Collins whose life is depicted in a 1997 movie, "Michael Collins" starring Liam Neeson.  Troops continue to control the borders between Northern Ireland and Ireland and are doing so when Mary Ann and I visit Belfast and other Northern Ireland towns in 1996.

Local consumers see or hear about many new products and inventions--some of these appearing for the first time include Orange Crush soda, Lincoln toy logs, agitator washing machines, loudspeaker public address systems and Reynold's Metals foil wrappings.

Notable deaths this year include Emperor Franz Joseph, Jack London and the murdered Rasputin.

Ancestry Hub ~ Kudrick Home Page ~ Kudrick Ancestry ~ Ancestry Page ~ Kudrick Family ~ Alex Kudrick
Bartko Family ~ Janos Bartko ~ Anna Scšur ~ John Bartko ~ Mary Bartko ~ Anna Scšur II ~ Michael Mudry Anna Mudry ~ Mary Mudry ~ Susan Mudry ~ John Mudry Jr. ~ Joseph Mudry