NEW ROCHELLE, NY — “New Rochelle’s Part in the Great War,” a free digital slide program, will be presented by city historian Barbara Davis on Sunday, December 10, at 2:00 pm in the Ossie Davis Theater of the New Rochelle Public Library.
New Rochelle played a unique role in World War I, due to these factors: the largest recruiting depot east of the Mississippi was located at Fort Slocum, on New Rochelle’s Davids Island; a large number of local and notable illustrators were engaged in creating propaganda posters for the war effort; and New Rochelle provided significant aid to its war-torn sister city, La Rochelle, France.
The presentation will mark the 100th anniversary of a dramatic circumstance that took place in New Rochelle eight months after America entered into World War I, during the week of December 10th, 1917. The event followed on the heels of New Rochelle’s highly-publicized fall from grace, yet would conclude with country-wide fame and praise, as a well as a newly-defined sense of community.