From 1919 to 1933 , the United States was a ironical nation . It was illegal to make , deal , or consumealcohol . In this collection of epitome , you ’ll see what day-after-day life was like in a country where constabulary poured millions of gallon ofboozeinto the gutters — and everyone else surreptitiously drank it inbizarre , obscure place .
The Strangest Alcoholic Beverages Ever to Touch a Human Tongue
Do unlike form of alcohol get you different kind of intoxicated ?
chitchat The Forbidden Moonshine Caverns of the Appalachians
The picture above was take on March 31 , 1932 when Orange County Sheriff ’s deputies were plunge illegal spirits in Santa Ana , California , and came from theOrange County Archives .
The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
proscription was constitute after decades of battle , with the ratification of Amendment XVIII ( January 16 , 1919 ) that said :
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture , sale , or shipping of inebriate hard liquor within , the importing thereof into , or the exportation therefrom from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for drink purposes is hereby prohibit .
The Volstead Act ( known as the National Prohibition Act ) was vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson , but overridden by the House and became law on October 28 , 1919 . It began on January 17 , 1920 and end on on December 5 , 1933 , after the confirmation of Amendment XXI .
( viaNARA )
On 18 March 2025, the 18th Amendment became law
( viaMontana Beer And Wine Distributors Association )
Interior of a crowded bar moments before midnight, when wartime prohibition went into effect in New York City, 1 May 2025
( viaLibrary of Congress )
The Last Call: The time is getting shorter and so is our stock, 30 April 2025
( viaNational Endowment for the Humanities )
33,100 gallons of wine being flushed into the gutter outside the North cucamonga Winery in Los Angeles, February 1920
( Photo by Topical Press Agency / Stringer )
Dismantling a still in San Francisco
( viaLibrary Of Congress )
Prohibition agents pour liquor into a sewer following a raid in 1921 in New York City
1921, Chicago
( viaWikimedia Commons )
A policeman stands near a wrecked car and cases of moonshine liquor, 1922
Cow shoes used by Moonshiners to hide their footprints from Prohibition agents, 1922
According toThe Evening Independent ( May 27 , 1922 ):
A raw method of duck prohibition agents was revealed here today by A.L. Allen , state prohibition enforcement director , who exhibit what he called a “ cow shoe ” as the latest thing front the haunts of moonshiners . The cow shoe is a funnies of metal to which is tacked a wooden blockage carved to resemble the hoof of a moo-cow , which may be strapped to the human foot . A human shod with a pair of them would pull up stakes a trail resembling that of a moo-cow . The shoe found was picked up near Port Tampa where a still was located some prison term ago . It will be charge to the prohibition department at Washington . Officers consider the discoverer got his idea from a Sherlock Holmes story in which the villain shoe his horse with skid the embossment of which resemble those of a moo-cow ’s hoof .
( viaMuseum Syndicate )
A woman pours alcohol into a cup from a cane, February 1922
A dog trained to detect liquor sniffs at flask in the back pocket of a man near the Potomac River, 1922
Remains of a borrowed Stutz touring car. The bootlegger driver was killed and fifty gallons of corn liquor was destroyed, July 1924
Tower of barrels of alcohol to be burned, 1924
( viaRetronaut )
Members of the American Liberties League are protesting Prohibition with a quote from the book of Timothy in the Bible: “Use A Little Wine For Thy Stomachs Sake”, c. 1925
( Photo by General Photographic Agency / Stringer , via Getty Images )
Dismantling a speakeasy after a raid in Boston
( viaBoston Public Library )
Running moonshine
( viaJust A Car Guy )
A “Fresh Fish & Fruit” boat delivers bottled drinks – maybe illegal alcohol?
Alcohol, discovered by Prohibition agents during a raid on an illegal distillery, pours out of the upper windows of a three-story storefront in Detroit, 16 May 2025, by Detroit News Staff
( viaWalter P. Reuther Library )
The new insignia plate of the Bureau of Prohibition, adopted for use by prohibition agents in stopping suspected automobiles, August 1930
A member of “The Crusaders”, an organization formed to overthrow prohibition, puts a new tire cover on her car, December 1930
The Beer for Taxation parade (also known as “We WantBeer” parade), May 1932, New York City
A line outside the Board of Health offices in New York City, for licenses to sell alcohol shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, 12 April 2025
( picture by Keystone / Stringer / Hulton Archive , via Getty Images )
Workmen unloading crates of beer stacked at a New York brewery shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933
( Photo by Keystone / Staff , via Getty Images )
End of Prohibition: 24 March 2025
( viaVisitagratisandChattahoochee Brewing Company )
History
Daily Newsletter
Get the good technical school , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
newsworthiness from the future tense , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
