Old news 1

Reading old copies of Rensselaer newspapers looking for obituaries, I sometimes find other items that are too good not to share. In 1915 Indiana Brewers Association was running ads to discourage prohibition. The item below struck me as so over-the-top as to be counterproductive.

The prohibitionist movement was strong in the county. This article from the June 2 Jasper County Democrat talks about an election in Wheatfield. The women were in favor of banning booze, the men opposed. However, the initial reports that women could vote were later declared invalid, so the vote failed. (The amendment giving women the right to vote was not ratified until 1920, but states were playing with the idea before then.)

One of the prominent citizens of Rensselaer, Robert Dwiggins, ran for governor on the Prohibitionist ticket in 1884. You can read more about him and his work for prohibition here.

(Dwiggins is one of several family names that were once prominent in the area and have disappeared. Makeever and Leopold are two others.)

Also on the topic of alcohol, read the article about the death of Lewis Gore in the Nov 9, 1907 issue of the Jasper County Democrat. Note the way the piece concludes.

It is kind of ironic that while the citizens of Jasper County were debating the pros and cons of alcohol, they were busy planting hemp, aka marijuana. The ad below is from 1919. Was hemp introduced into the county during WWI?