Prohibition in
Marathon County
Overview of Marathon County
• Heavily populated by German immigrants
who bring their attitudes
“… an inordinate fondness for – and a
prodigious consumption of beer. For
many of these immigrants, and their
offspring, beef passed being a pleasure
and approached being a social and
psychological necessity.”
- The Story of Wausau and Marathon
County
- By Michael Kronenwetter
Germans in
Wisconsin
- From Germans in Wisconsin,
by Richard H. Zeitlin
German Customs
Image ID: 1938
Collection Name: Ralph Marquardt: Photographs, 1860-1925
For larger image click the following link:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=1938&qstring=
Copyright unknown. If reader knows who holds the copyright,
please contact Oscar Chamberlain at the University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Image ID: 3493
Collection Name: Photo Copy Service: Photographs and Negatives, 1925-1983
For larger image click the following link:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=3493&qstring=
German taverns, beer
gardens, or beer halls
were the center of
activity for the German
communities
Wausau Brewing
Company, Wausau, WI
Marathon City Brewery,
Marathon City, WI
Copyright unknown for these photographs. If reader knows who holds the
copyright, please contact Oscar Chamberlain at the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire.
Do the citizens of Marathon County
agree with Prohibition?
From:
Wausau Sun
Mar. 18,
1911
Do the citizens of Marathon
County agree with Prohibition?
• Volstead Act passed anyway in
1919…
From: Wausau Daily
Record-Herald &
Wausau Pilot – 19181919
What is it like during Prohibition
in Marathon County?
• “…if anyone in Marathon County,
resident or visitor, went without a
drink it was either through their own
choice or lack of the funds to pay for
it.”
- The Story of Wausau and Marathon
County
- By Michael Kronenwetter
Trying to get around Prohibition…
Wausau Daily Record-Herald
March 12, 1925
Drawing of a still
Trying to get around Prohibition…
• 1926 – Marathon County board
presented w/ resolution to modify
Volstead Act
– Want to sell light wine & beer
– Felt Volstead Act lead to “detriment” of
youth
– The measure passed 48 to 11
– 75% of county voters approved
**County can’t overturn state law!!
Trying to get around Prohibition…
Soda Shops, “near beer,” speakeasies,
“blind pigs,” and road houses
Why didn’t Wisconsin “welcome”
prohibition?
Some possible theories…
– Brewing is state’s 5th largest industry
– Barley is an important crop
– Feeling of civil liberties & cultural
liberties being threatened
– WHAT DO YOU THINK???
The End of Prohibition – 1933:
Passage of the 21st Amendment!
Image ID: 9426
Collection Name: Frank Joseph Scherschel: Photographs, 1907-1981
For larger image click the following link:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=9426&qstring=
Image ID: 1929
Collection Name: Classified File ****
For larger image click the following link:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=1929&qstring=
21st Amendment
Section 1. The eighteenth article of
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation
into any State, Territory, or possession of
the United States for delivery or use there
in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of
the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative
unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by
conventions in the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven
years from the date of the submission
hereof to the States by the Congress.
Copyright unknown. If reader knows who
holds the copyright, please contact Oscar
Chamberlain at the University of WisconsinEau Claire.
Small Group Discussion Questions
•Why does Prohibition begin? (Besides passage of laws!)
•Why does it end? (Besides the passage of the 21st
amendment!)
•Why do you think Wisconsin wasn’t a state that really
“welcomed” Prohibition?