Battle Creek was breathless in anticipation of former President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to Battle Creek on Sept. 30, 1916, declared "Roosevelt Day." City leaders braced for crowds expected to exceed 50,000 to see the popular former president. E.W. Moore, former editor of the Battle Creek Journal and owner of the Benton Harbor News-Palladium, predicted the event something "to tell your children's children" in a preview for the Sept. 22, 1916, Battle Creek Enquirer: "When you go to Battle Creek at that time, you will find an enthusiasm that will almost amount to a riot... We predict that when Theodore Roosevelt lets loose his fervid eloquence in Battle Creek, that there will be applause enough to shake the high buildings, to jar the Willard Library and disturb the patients in the Battle Creek Sanitarium."