By Warren Wade
100 years ago, on Tuesday, July 27 1909, the voters of Mendocino (all male) voted to ban all alcohol sales within the town limits, putting 9 saloons and 5 hotel bars out of business! Prohibition in Mendocino came 10 years before National Prohibition.
The following story of the election is taken from a letter by Grace Fisher to her sister Hattie. Grace was an ardent Prohibitionist, one of the founding members of the Mendocino Study Club, and the wife of Melville Fisher, pastor of the Mendocino Presbyterian Church from 1908-1916. The Fishers’ granddaughters, Jean Robertson and Janet Gibson, uncovered the letter and shared the information with the church historians. Kelley House now has an archival copy of the letter. By 1909, the temperance movement had been gathering strength for some time, and on the last Tuesday of July, a special election was held giving local communities the option to prohibit the sale of alcohol. The women of the town turned out to urge their husbands and other men to vote to go dry. The polling place was the old Odd Fellows Hall, located at the corner of Kasten and Little Lake Streets, the site of the present Mendocino Baptist Church.
To quote Grace’s letter: “Mendocino has gone dry! By a majority of 27 votes. My what rejoicing we have. We were never in so exciting a time of this kind before. We were not sure of victory – but when the word came that we really had won, my how we shouted. The ladies served free lunch all day in a hall just cat-a-corned [sic] from the hall where the voting was done – so of course towards evening there were crowds of women and men there waiting to hear the news. And my how rejoiced we were – & how we cheered. And the saloon men sneaked off down town the back way & were not to be seen. The school children marched three times during the day – before school – at noon – and at 4 o’clock – Mr. Fisher & the teachers with them – they had 2 drums and all wore the white badges ‘Vote No for my sake’. I tell you it was stirring to see them with their flags flying. At 4 o’clock when they came around the ladies got $2 worth of candy – taffy & gave the children.
They arranged to march again in the evening if we won, and so when we were sure we had won they rang the school bell & the church bells & the children all went to school again & Mr. Fisher & the teachers & the drums & flags and all came around again. When they reached the hall where all we ladies were, my how we cheered & we all joined in at the rear – about 60 or 70 ladies & as many men and all marched around town – down Main Street where most of the saloons were just around town & back again to the I.O.O.F. hall where we all sang ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow’ and Mr. Bane – the anti saloon league speaker – made a speech & we sang our songs again and had a regular Jubilee. Really it was splendid.”
The songs that the jubilant paraders sang were written for the occasion: “Mendocino’s Going Dry” and “Vote for Prohibition” to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and “The Old Town’s Going Dry” to the tune of Goodnight Ladies. In the special election, all towns from Westport to Elk and from the coast to Boonville also went dry; in order to get a drink you had to drive to Point Arena or Ukiah – a long way in those days.
