17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, August 29, 1912: Was real nice going to school this morning. You see it rained last night. Had our first visitors at school today. They were Miss Cakes and Miss Bryson. We had our last class, while they were there.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It sounds like the rain the previous night broke a hot spell.
Here’s what the weather report in the New York Times for August 29, 1912 said.
The Weather
. . . Temperatures remain below the seasonal average in the Northeastern States, the region of the Great Lakes, and the Upper Mississippi Valley, and continue high in the Lower Ohio and Middle Mississippi Valleys and throughout the South. . . . .
Steamships departing Thursday for European ports will have moderate variable winds and overcast showery weather to the Grand Banks.
Cool—It’s amazing that there was a steamship forecast. How many steamships left the port of New York on a typical day? . . . How many people were on those ships? There must have been a lot or the New York Times probably wouldn’t have included the steamship forecast.
Visitors
I’m not sure who the two visitors were. Miss Bryson might possibly refer to Blanche Bryson, She was a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I am sure that in 1912 steamship passengers were very worried about the weather in the North Atlantic. Especially after what happened In April 1912.
You’re so right–I didn’t think about the Titanic when I wrote this.
I wonder if there was anything they could do about it if they found there were going to be storms. I guess they would already have their tickets by that time.
I’d also guess that they bought their tickets ahead–and that they would still need to go even if the weather forecast wasn’t ideal.
o, what a cute name ‘Miss Cakes’. My Aunt and I were researching family history and looked through hundreds of ship arrivals to Halifax from New York for one year (1899). That was just for one destination…so I imagine it was a busy place.
It’ hard to imagine how filled the harbors must have once been with passenger ships.
Hi. I like the way you put the various bits of information together. Glad to see an old building has been repurposed!!! Jane