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Keywords: Liquor

Historical Items

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Mystery Corner Item

Item 104684

Men unloading contraband liquor, ca. 1920

Mystery Corner Item Do you know who these people are?

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media Date: circa 1920 Location: Bethel Media: Glass Negative

Item 135725

Firemen in front of City Liquor Agency, Portland, 1886

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1886 Location: Portland Media: photographic print

Item 104542

Contraband Canadian liquor, Portland, ca. 1920

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media Date: circa 1920 Location: Portland Media: Glass Negative

Online Exhibits

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Exhibit

Prohibition in Maine in the 1920s

Federal Prohibition took hold of America in 1920 with the passing of the Volstead Act that banned the sale and consumption of all alcohol in the US. However, Maine had the Temperance movement long before anyone was prohibited from taking part in one of America's most popular past times. Starting in 1851, the struggles between the "drys" and the "wets" of Maine lasted for 82 years, a period of time that was everything but dry and rife with nothing but illegal activity.

Exhibit

Indians, Furs, and Economics

When Europeans arrived in North America and disrupted traditional Native American patterns of life, they also offered other opportunities: trade goods for furs. The fur trade had mixed results for the Wabanaki.

Exhibit

Student Exhibit: Ice Harvesting

Ice Harvesting was a big industry on the Kennebec River. Several million tons of ice could be harvested in a few weeks. In 1886 the Kennebec River topped the million ton on ice production.

Site Pages

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Site Page

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1865 to 1919: The Drys Gain New Adherents and Leaders

"… Civil War and the end of World War I, the anti-liquor cause, now led by both reformers and Republican and Democratic politicians, built a power…"

Site Page

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Bootleggers vs. Police

"Building such craft for bootleggers brought a brisk business to Downeast boatyards. Prohibition liquor hiding techniques: Victrola before…"

Site Page

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Politics and Enforcement

"On dump day the liquor would be poured into a sewer, river, or the ocean often with some fanfare. Not surprisingly, Rum Rooms were often the target…"

My Maine Stories

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Story

Vegetarians and Zoonosis
by Avery Yale Kamila

Colds, influenza, tuberculosis, measles, smallpox, plague and COVID-19 group under zoonotic diseases

Story

History of Forest Gardens
by Gary Libby

This is a history of one of Portland's oldest local bars

Story

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down