Venango County Dry!
- Lydia Seaton
- Nov 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 7
Throughout the oil boom in the late 19th century, a considerable number of wild and roaring dance halls, bars, and brothels appeared in Venango County and the surrounding areas — such as those run by Ben Hogan and French Kate. At the turn of the 20th century, however, attitudes in the Oil Region began to shift towards temperance and prohibition.
The 18th Amendment began the Prohibition era in 1920 with a ban on manufacturing, transporting, and selling intoxicating liquors within the United States. This change was due, in part, to the temperance movement, which took a strong hold in Venango County over two decades before prohibition became the law of the land.
In 1906, county judges began refusing to reissue liquor licenses to specific businesses. In March of that year, Judge Thomas F. Criswell denied numerous requests from around the county, including hotel owners, wholesale proprietors, and retail operations.
Like many other businesses, Christian Brecht's brewery faced numerous challenges around licensing. Despite being a highly regarded operation, Judge Criswell disliked the brewery because Brecht had previously faced charges for illegally supplying beer to those working on the railroad line. Judge Criswell warned Brecht to be wary of any future “conduct” that might threaten his license.
Outside of the Judge’s chamber, however, the beer from Brecht’s brewery was given a “full editorial and official endorsement” from the United States Health Department, which claimed the beer had the “highest American authority on all matters pertaining to health, sanitation, and hygiene.”
The WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) was widely active in the Oil Region, frequently attending hearings for those applying for liquor licenses, during which the group would occupy much of the courtroom and wear white ribbons to symbolize purity. They frequently put notices in newspapers, such as the Franklin Evening News, where they asked “every lover of the American home and its children joining with us at 4 o’clock on Sunday in a silent prayer, wherever they may be, for the removal of rum traffic and its evils from our midst.”
The group also circulated petitions throughout communities, with one petition arguing for prohibition in Franklin, garnering over 3,700 signatures. A similar petition in Oil City garnered over 4,000.
In June 1908, Caroline Amelia Nation, or Carry A. Nation, visited the region. A firm believer in temperance, Nation was known as a “smasher and agitator” due to her reputation for attacking liquor-serving establishments with a hatchet.
Nation spoke at the county courthouse and in churches across the region, drawing long crowds for her lectures, warning women not to marry men who smoked, chewed tobacco, or drank. She also warned men to stay away from women who went to “dancing schools and balls.” Nation spoke widely against the sale and consumption of liquor and claimed to have been jailed 33 times for her tireless and ruthless campaign against intoxicating substances.
Nation would pass out small hatchet pins when she spoke and sold copies of her newspaper. During her time in the Oil Region, Nation stopped by the lobby of the Park Hotel, where workers of the Galena Oil Company were gathering. The gentlemen were “taken to task” and scolded by Nation for smoking. It was said that the men “enjoyed the little curtain lecture and applauded the woman.”
The issue of temperance continued to be a concern in Venango County, with strong advocates on both sides. On April 2, 1914, however, Venango County officially went dry when Judge Criswell issued an order refusing all applications for wholesale and retail licensing, citing the reasoning that they were not necessary.
This was met with considerable backlash in the county. Many argued that the new order would not stop the consumption of alcohol. Business owners and hotel proprietors were equally displeased, presenting their combined receipts from the year 1913, which totaled over a quarter of a million dollars, demonstrating the lucrative nature of the liquor business. After this testimony was heard, those in favor of temperance asked if these revenues had been properly “reported to the government on income tax returns."
Captain William Hasson, a notable Civil War veteran and Oil City businessman, joined the debate as well, saying “there is a large demand for liquor in Oil City and [...] therefore it is a necessity for wholesale licenses."
During this period in 1914, the Saltzmann and Brecht breweries withdrew their applications for a county license. They applied directly to the state because of the law, which stated no brewery could apply for a state license for at least a year if a county judge had turned it down.
Judge Crisman’s rulings were challenged at the Superior Court; however, his decision was upheld, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The attitude of Crisman and other pro-temperance citizens was a “forerunner” of the ensuing national prohibition movement, which became law in 1920 with the 18th Amendment.
By the mid-1920s, the “majority of court cases pertained to the manufacture, possession, or sale of intoxicating beverages” in Venango County. Police officers performed routine raids on suspected homes and individuals.
Bootleggers in the region, such as a woman known as “Mary Christmas” and her husband, were frequently arrested and charged for their involvement in the illegal manufacturing and sale of liquor.
In 1923, a bootlegger named “Handsome Harry” was charged with possessing and selling liquor; however, he jumped bail and fled to Meadville before quickly moving south toward Grove City. Eventually, Harry was apprehended in Pittsburgh, where he was found guilty and sent to prison. Upon parole, Harry was sent back to Venango County for trial, where he received a suspended sentence after saying that he was “opposed” to liquor after serving time in the Western State Penitentiary.
Liquors called “white lightning” and “bathtub gin” began circulating through the county, resulting in a “number of deaths” due to being a “hastily-made brew.” During a raid in Franklin, a barrel of wine was discovered in a residence on Buffalo Street.
Upon searching the house, four more barrels were found in the basement, along with “evidence of making hooch.”
Prohibition ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which became law in December 1933. The states, so-called “wet delegates,” gave the necessary majority to provide legalized intoxicating spirits throughout the country. Venango County voted to repeal the 18th Amendment, with 8,235 voters in favor and 7,229 against.
Throughout the Great Depression, taxes from liquor sales were used for school support
and to pay for public works programs. Many people across the country saw prohibition as a “failed experiment”. They welcomed the repeal due to fear of the return to “salon eras” and the desire to remove “bootleggers and gangsters” from the liquor business. Unintended consequences of the 18th Amendment included organized crime, speakeasy bars, bootleggers, and a general difficulty in maintaining law and order.
After 1933, the state of Pennsylvania controlled the buying, selling, and importing of liquor and levied taxes on every purchase. “Bathtub gin” and “white lighting” were on their way out of fashion in the face of state stores; however, a handful of bootleggers were apprehensive about giving up their business.
In 1935, two years after the end of prohibition, officers and agents followed a truck from Youngstown, Ohio, to the eastern edge of Venango County, where a large bootlegging operation was discovered in a barn. Officers found around a thousand gallons of homemade liquor, as well as machinery worth approximately $2,000.
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Excellent article! As a descendent of the owners of the Saltzmann Bros. Brewery - and interesting fact, my great-grandmother was a sister to the owner of Brecht Brewery - I can say that I resent the Prohibition era that may have kept the development of Saltzmann beer to be another Budweiser dynasty, lol! My only disappointment in the article is the selection of the picture in The Fate of the Breweries. My family actually entered into a lawsuit with Oil City Beverage due to their use of the mis-spelled "OC Saltzman Beer" logo used to sell their near beer product during those years. That company was not related in any way to the original Saltzmann brewers. Something a little m…
I know a woman who said that her ancestors (thru her mother's side, if I remember) ran an operation on 3rd Street. She said the still (?) was hidden in the walls somehow, and there were still pipes from when she was small?