W. C. T. U. Stoughton History
In 1890, Stoughton’s W.C.T.U. worked with the Anti Saloon
League and churches to stop the city of Stoughton from issuing liquor licenses which permitted the sale of intoxicating liquor. This "no-license" was accomplished years before National Prohibition.
For several years Stoughton was the largest dry city in the state.
Chartered in 1884, initial elected officers of the Stoughton W. C. T. U. were Alice Ames as
president; Lucy Buckman as secretary; and Maggie Beattie, treasurer.
Charter members were:
Mrs. Rev. Brill, Mrs. John Daws, Mrs. L.D. Clark, Mrs. W.A. (Elisa) Fermann,
Miss E.E. Bartlett, Mrs. E. H. (Annie) Warren, Mrs. Christ Johnson, Mrs. Olivia
Johnson, Miss Maggie Beattie, Mrs. J.C. Chidester, Mrs. Albert Jones, Mrs.
Frank (Anna) Allen, Mrs. David McNeil, Mrs. Andrew Erickson, Mrs. Hans Hoverson, Mrs.
Myhren, Miss Annie Sewell, Mrs. A.R. (Alice) Ames, Mrs. Lucy Buckman, Miss Emma
Johnson, Mrs. L.K. Luse, Mrs. Thomas Lormer, Mrs. H. Hanson, Mrs. Osmund
Gunderson, Mrs. William Clark, Mrs. Edith Robinson, Mrs. David Camp, Mrs. O.M.
(Sarah Stoughton) Turner, Mrs. H.J. Rhodes, Mrs. A.T. Marvin, Mrs. Martin
Johnson, Mrs. G.C. Watson, Mrs. Lars Rutlin, Mrs. Charles McNeil, Miss Marie
Dahl, Miss Josie Johnson, Miss Annie Hoverson and Mrs. T.H. Dahl.
Prior to the formation of W.C.T.U., Rev. T.H. Dahl along with others started a
reading room in the basement under the Stoughton State Bank, in order to lure
men from the many open saloons of Stoughton.
Upon the organization of the
W.C.T.U. the new organization was asked to take care of this reading room and
the W.C.T.U. accepted the responsibility.
Adding to the library, part of the time in conjunction with the Y.M.C.A., until the Carnegie library was built and the management was taken over by the
city.
After prohibition, the W.C.T.U. remained active and sent
numerous petitions to the legislature, circulating quantities of literature
during the war supporting war orphans, doing its part in conservation and more.
Sources:
Stoughton Courier Hub, April 4, 1890
Stoughton Courier Hub, January 10, 1930
Landmark Survey 1990-1991 by Rebecca Sample Bernstein
"The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874, had become the largest women’s organization in the United States by the late nineteenth century. Frances Willard, president of the WCTU from 1879 until her death in 1898, issued a “Do Everything” appeal to women across the country. Local unions supported the temperance-related causes they believed most benefitted their communities, including women’s suffrage, prison reform, children’s temperance unions, public kindergartens, health and hygiene, homelessness, and unemployment. Even after the success of national prohibition and its later repeal in 1933, the WCTU persisted as an organization throughout the twentieth century and still has active members today." From Library of Congress
