Ohio is going dry

Writing these blogs in 2021, I tend to forget the changes that have occurred during the past century. I was briefly puzzled while reading Charley's letters home when he mentioned certain people being either "dry" or "wet."

Oh yes, prohibition.

The Prohibition Era began in Ohio on May 27, 1919 -- nearly six months before the 18th Amendment was passed by Congress to become a national law on Oct. 28, 1919. One of the major reasons that Ohio went dry ahead of the rest of the country was the influence of the state’s temperance movement, including such groups as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Ohio Anti-Saloon League.

The Ohio whiskey war

I have long adored this Feb. 21, 1874 illustration from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper; the ladies of Logan singing hymns in front of barrooms in aid of the temperance movement. Looking at it I can't help but wonder if any of my ancestors are in it. I know my family at that time was supposedly dry.

Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. Not all alcohol was banned though; for example, religious use of wine was permitted. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law, but local laws were stricter in many areas, with some states banning possession altogether.

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