Week in History: Red Bank Prepares for War

The Army tapped Red Bank to help provide provisions for soldiers stationed at Sandy Hook in the week before U.S. entered World War I.

The March 28, 1917 issue of the Red Bank Register detailed a preparedness meeting in which three Army officers spoke before a crowd of 500. Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

During the meeting, the officers asked the town to organize a committee to catalogue resources that could be at the government's disposal. The existing railroad did not meet the Army's needs and Red Bank's proximity to Sandy Hook made it vital in the event provisions were immediately needed. 

The article indicates residents had concerns the war could reach American soil:

Nature has made this part of the United States a theater of war and this section will certainly become a zone of defensive warfare in case of invasion by a foreign foe. But regardless of whether there is an invasion or not, Red Bank will be close to the big Eastern army which the United States will raise within the next few months.

In addition to making items available for the military, the officers charged Red Bank officials to improve poor road conditions in their area as part of their patriotic duty.