A Saloon! In Searcy AR, dry county?
This is a newly found photograph labeled with Matthews Saloon 1906 that is being shared with us for this blog. The lender found it in her parent's collection and knows nothing about it and hopes the Searcy Sleuths can provide more information. A super Super Sleuth has done some searching and has come up with the following interesting information. Here is what he has supplied and has written his own blog and let me share it. I have shortened his summary somewhat with his permission.
This is written by Don Thompson, super Searcy Sleuth.
A photo of this framed print owned by a Searcy, Arkansas resident was taken by Barbara Duncan. She asked me to comment on it.
The prohibition movement gained momentum in the first decade of the twentieth century as Arkansas, and indeed much of the nation, continued to ban saloons. In 1906, sixty percent of American towns had done so, and the Arkansas chapter of the Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1899, urged for more restrictions. In this period, Arkansas governors such as George Donaghey led the way for tighter control of alcohol.
Race played a role in local referendums as in 1913, when the legislature passed a bill that required petitions in support of a new saloon to be signed by a majority of white voters. In an era of widespread African-American voter disfranchisement, black opinion on alcohol was simply ignored or suppressed. By 1914, only nine Arkansas counties had managed to keep their saloons open. In 1915, the General Assembly passed the Newberry Act, effectively banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the state. In addition, the act failed to exempt the sale of alcohol for medicinal purposes.
In 1909, Searcy, Arkansas, likely had very few or no legal retailers of alcohol due to strict local prohibition laws. Any alcohol sales were likely limited to clandestine "bootlegging" operations.
Context on Alcohol Retailers
Prohibition Movement: White County, where Searcy is located, was largely a "dry" county long before statewide prohibition was enacted in 1915. The state used local "three-mile laws" which prohibited alcohol sales within a certain radius of schools or churches, making it difficult for most retailers to operate legally.
Other Potential Retailers: In earlier historical periods, alcohol might have been available from "grog shops" or taverns, which required a license from the county court. Drug stores sometimes sold alcohol for "medicinal purposes". However, by 1909, the push for complete prohibition was significant, and even these avenues were likely shut down or severely restricted.
Illegal Sales: The restrictive environment meant that illegal distillation and sales (bootlegging) were common in many parts of Arkansas, a practice that continued through national Prohibition.
Here is an article that can be found in the White County Heritage Journal.
Saloon or Retail Liquor Store
By: Ira Leach
Two uncles of mine, Aubrey and Billy Snoffner, were together in the summer of 1981, and Aubrey mentioned the saloon that used to be located south of Searcy on the Rock Island Railroad. The brothers wereb born in White County in the late 1800's, and were enjoying discussing some of the happenings of a much earlier era. Aubrey said that a sales place for whiskey had to be at least four miles from any colleges and Galloway Women’s College was located on the present Harding Univeraity site.
Younger brother Pilly objected to the term "Saloon" saying the sales place was there but customers could not enter. Three men had entered partnership and built a small building near the railroad track for easy delivery of the filled barrels and convenient dispatch of the empty barrels. The partners were to take turns as salesmen. The door was kept locked and a window was opened to receive the empty bottle or jug that was not returned with the ordered "fluid1’ until the money to pay for it was made into hands of the salesperson. (The contents of the barrels were released through a spigot.)
This sounded like it would have to be a prosperous business, as they owned their building and hired no help, and there certainly was no electric bill, but after a few months, they were unable to pay for the new order of beverages. (Bookkeepers were not used in this type business at that date,)
When the three of them sat down together to find why they were going to have to close shop,one of the partners admitted that he probably had sampled the stock too often, and taken some of it away at the end of his working days.
The brothers mede no reference to any other similar place of business in southern White County.
Efforts to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol have existed throughout Arkansas’s history, from before the territorial era to the present day. The peak of the state’s prohibition movement, roughly from the 1850s through the 1920s, witnessed a confluence of disparate political forces all aiming to curb the use and abuse of alcohol. Prohibitionists came in several forms, from health and anticrime advocates to religious leaders, business owners, women, and even white supremacists. Though each of these groups came to support prohibition for different reasons, they found common ground in the belief that alcohol represented a scourge and a threat
Thanks, Don.
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