PROHIBITION

PROHIBITION. Policy of forbidding the manufacture, transportation or sale of intoxicating beverages. Prohibition marked the time when Dubuque developed the reputation as "the state of Dubuque." The image of Dubuque residents being less than enthusiastic about prohibition began on the first "dry" Saturday in 1916 when movement on the bridge into Illinois had to be stopped until the traffic snarls leading to "wet" Illinois were cleared.

The number of East Dubuque liquor licenses soared despite a doubling of the license fee. Little effort was made to apprehend those bringing liquor back into Iowa. Mobs of Dubuque residents were also found in East Dubuque on the evening before January 16, 1920, the day Prohibition became a national policy.

Fear of unannounced visits by state liquor agents led local bartenders and citizens to develop methods of hiding their illegal liquor. It was said that the lanterns shining from belvederes on several Dubuque homes were used to signal bootleggers. After the construction of some buildings, basements were dug to hide liquor storage.

One bartender hid his store of liquor in an unused elevator shaft. Another resorted to a hole in the floor. When a bottle was needed, it was lifted through the hole. Unannounced searches by state agents led to a brick being dropped through the hole breaking whatever evidence lay below. Boat owners often appeared to have two anchor ropes dangling in the water-one actually tied to their favorite brand of liquor.

Bootleggers were estimated to have made $100 million dollars in the first year of prohibition as beer went from a nickel to a quarter a glass. Such profits attracted mob interest. It was said that bootleggers used the old DUBUQUE BREWING AND MALTING COMPANY. Violence was directed at property and people. On April 13, 1933, Prohibition was officially repealed in Iowa.

The era was the background for a musical comedy, JOE SENT ME! written by Paul HEMMER.