Walsh - Baltimore Prohibition Wet and Dry in the Free State

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2017 by Michael T. Walsh

All rights reserved

Front cover image courtesy of Library of Congress.

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.43966.357.8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017953985

print edition ISBN 978.1.62585.842.9

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

To my wife, Jennifer; my daughter, Elizabeth; and my parents, John and Annette, for all of your unconditional love and support throughout these many years. The next few rounds are on me. Cheers!

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to all of my family and friends, especially the following: Jennifer, Elizabeth, Mom, Dad, Dave, Sara, Katie, Mike, Linda, Michelle, Mugsy and RoddyI could not have accomplished this without your enduring and unwavering support! A very special thank-you to Jenn and Elizabeth, who toured Baltimore and Maryland with me over several weekends searching for the many historical artifacts, buildings and locations that are still highly visible but often overlooked. You both made all of those adventures even more fun, as I was able to share my passion for the subject with you and have someone to share my excitement with when I finally found what I was looking for!

I would like to thank my thesis and dissertation mentors at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Dr. John W. Jeffries and the late Dr. Joseph Arnold, both of whom helped immensely in aiding my completion of my masters thesis and doctoral dissertation on Prohibition in Baltimorewithout their support and expertise, this book would not have been written! Additionally, I want to acknowledge the support of that dissertation committee as well, all of whom provided ideas over many years: Thomas Pegram, Kriste Lindenmeyer, Thomas Schaller and George LaNoue.

A great deal of gratitude to all the folks at The History Press and Arcadia Publishing, especially J. Banks Smitheryour assistance and patience cannot be overstated. Thank you to Hannah Cassilly for seeing real value in my work during the book proposal stage and pitching the book to The History Press publishing committee.

Much gratitude to the faculty and staff at my alma maters: Calvert Hall College High School, Loyola University Maryland and the UMBC history, political science and public policy departments. My past and present colleagues in UMBCs Office of Sponsored Programs deserve recognition for their support of this project, as do past and present members of both Whisky Train and The Agitators.

I would like to acknowledge the help and assistance of the following repositories and the individuals who work there, without whom this endeavor could not have reached completion: the Baltimore Museum of Industry, especially Matthew Shirko and Collin Molony; Marilyn Schnider at the Baltimore Sun; Lisa Marine at the Wisconsin Historical Society; James Singewald at the Maryland Historical Society; Megan Craynon at the Maryland State Archives; the Library of Congress; Annie McLhinney-Cochran at the McLhinney Speakeasy Museum and International Market in Havre de Grace, Maryland; the good folks at the Gunter Hotel (who provided me and my wife with a private, spur-of-the-moment tour as we were passing through Frostburg); the Albert O. Kuhn Library at UMBC; the Loyola University Maryland/University of Notre Dame Library; the Enoch Pratt Free Library; the McKeldin Library at University of Maryland College Park; and the numerous online repositories that provided primary and secondary sources for research and interpretation throughout the years.

INTRODUCTION

It started as a germ of an idea nearly two decades ago in just a small term paper. It was the spring of 2001, and as a graduate student at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) working toward a Master of Arts degree in historical studies, I was faced with a dilemma: I needed a term paper topic for a twenty-page paper in my HIST 642: History of Baltimore class, taught by a fantastic scholar and noted Baltimore historian, Dr. Joseph Arnold. As a native and lifelong resident of Baltimore, this was my opportunity to finally devote myself to researching and writing on a local historical subject I cared greatly about.

The problem was that I wanted to research a topic that had hitherto been of little regard to historians or perhaps even neglected completely by those practitioners in the discipline. It soon became fairly evident to me that the topic worth exploringthe prohibition of alcohol in Baltimore under the Eighteenth Amendmentwas ripe for scholarship. Moreover, I found it serendipitous to combine my passion for twentieth-century Baltimore history with my taste for good local Baltimore beer! In the early 2000s, there truly was a lack of scholarship on the subject of Prohibition in Baltimore. Dr. Arnold agreed with me, so much so that he suggested I should consider turning that term paper into a possible masters thesis. And that is exactly what I did in 20012. Then I decided to take it a few steps further, as the thesis clearly was not as comprehensive and as all-encompassing on the subject matter as I ultimately wanted it to be.

I entered the public policy doctoral program at UMBC and elected to participate in the policy history track. I used the thesis as a broad framework and basis for my doctoral dissertation, adding years of research and writing into my studies on the subject matter and really analyzing Prohibition in Baltimore and Maryland from different historical and policy perspectives. It took many years to complete, but by the end of my studies, I had successfully completed and defended a comprehensive history and study of the national policy of Prohibition in Baltimore and Maryland.

This book is a direct result of those years I spent researching and writing the thesis and dissertation. that enjoys a great story. After all, no one has published a real comprehensive history of Marylands and Baltimores experience with Prohibition. This book attempts to provide just such a narrative. Its the story and the history that Ive always wanted to tell about Prohibition in my hometown.

In his book Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Werent, author Garrett Peck provided both a history and guidebook to Prohibition in the District. This book similarly attempts to provide that same function for Baltimore and Maryland. Where appropriate, I have used contemporary photos of some of the famous locations throughout the book, places that are still visible in the Baltimore landscape today. I do hope that the written word and the remaining visual evidence of a bygone era stimulate your intellectual curiosity and feasibly allow for a nice day trip or two on a quasi-trail of Prohibition throughout Baltimore and Maryland. Cheers and happy reading!

Chapter 1

PROHIBITION IN THE FREE STATE

Maryland, like many states in the United States, has its fair share of popular nicknames. Arguably, Marylands most famous nickname that is still frequently articulated in the twenty-first century is the Free State. The nickname connotes an adoration of freedom and liberty, those stalwart patriotic ideals that surely resonate with the residents of the state and thus provide a certain sense of civic pride. But one could dare say that most Marylanders today have little idea of the origins of that nickname and the true, and somewhat subversive, meaning behind that now-iconic state moniker.