Sherburne History Center Blog

  During Women’s History Month we recognized several women impacting community and culture in Sherburne County.   We also need to note at least one of the many community organizations, led by women, that worked to impact and improve life in Sherburne County.   The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (the WCTU) remains one of the more important of these groups. 1911 Star News headline reporting vote results on alcohol sales.  Nationally the WCTU organized in 1874 urging abstinence from alcohol.   Beginning in 1878, under the leadership of Francis Willard, the group also advocated for prison reform, labor laws, and suffrage.   Many regarded the group as one of the largest and most influential of reform societies in the United States during the 1800s. In Sherburne County, the WCTU organized late.   In 1895, the Elk River Star News reported meetings at the Elk River Methodist Church.   Not until 1910 did the WCTU formally organize in Becker.  ...

Advertisement for beer sales, published in the Sherburne County Star News , April 13, 1933 Prohibition officially ended April 1933.  Sherburne County officially ended prohibition April 6, 1933.  City Councils adopted ordinances allowing for the sale of beer and other spirits.  Although the local newspaper reported excitement, the availability of alcohol was not immediate.  And after the arrival of the newly distilled spirits, the paper reported a level of disappointment.  The legislation allowing the sale easily passed.  The challenge came in finding brewers and distributors to provide the previously prohibited drink.  Locating a palatable drink to distribute also presented a challenge.  With the end of national prohibition in 1933, the Sherburne County Star News recalled Elk River as dry in 1915, four years before the national movement.  All of Sherburne County voted dry by 1916.  Yet, with the end of prohibition in 1933, the ...

Although not found in Sherburne County, this photograph illustrates the equipment needed to create moonshine. A news report in the pages of the Sherburne County Star News provides entertainment and also highlights the challenges police faced enforcing the 1920s prohibition laws. The Sherburne County Star News reported in February 1929 of a burglary at the county jail.  “It is not often that anyone cares to break into jail,” the paper wrote.  The cause of the “jail break-in” began several days earlier.  Saturday night, February 9, 1929, Sherburne County police arrested an unidentified bootlegger.  Police caught the man transporting 120 quart bottles of whiskey from Fargo, North Dakota to Minneapolis.  After a weekend in jail, the man pled guilty to bootlegging.  He paid the $240 fine and left the county.  The whiskey remained in the county jail waiting disposal.  Tuesday night, 12 February, an unknown thief broke into the ja...

Campaign button for Edwin W. Chaffin, Prohibition Party  Presidential candidate in 1908 and 1912. From the collections at SHC: 2000.025.061 Prohibition, wet versus dry, has long been an issue in Sherburne County.  In 1895, temperance advocates met in the Elk River Methodist Church to urge prohibition in the county.  Wet advocates countered with assertions regarding the economic benefits of alcohol.  Their position insisted saloons would increase trade and business in local economies.  The Sherburne County Times went so far as to predict annual income from alcohol licensing exceeding $2000 for the county.  As early as 1899 the Times newspaper, reported the organization of a local chapter to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the WCTU.  For two decades before national Prohibition took effect, Sherburne County voters regularly debated and voted on the issue.  Passions ran deep with each election held.    National Prohibition...