Michigan Arts & Culture

Michigan said no to booze 100 years ago this week

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published May 2, 2018 at 4:47 PM EDT

An image of Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the prohibition era.

Stateside's conversation with Rachel Clark, a Michigan History Center contributor, and Mickey Lyons, a writer, historian, and curator of the blog, “Prohibition Detroit.”

Last week, the Board of State Canvassers approved a ballot petition that might end the prohibition of recreational marijuana in Michigan

Meanwhile, this week marked the 100th anniversary of another important social experiment: Prohibition.

It was this week in 1918 when Michigan said "no" to alcohol.

Just what led Michigan and, eventually, the rest of the nation to think that banning alcohol was a good idea?

Michigan History Center’s Rachel Clark and Mickey Lyons, a writer, historian, and curator of the blog, “Prohibition Detroit," joined Stateside to tell us about Michigan's history with Prohibition.

Listen above to hear what the women's suffrage movement had to do with Prohibition's beginnings, how Dixie Highway played a role in supplying Michiganders with booze, and what the bootleg scene looked like across the state.

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