My research question revolves around prohibition. I want to know how prohibition affected Eau Claire and Chippewa Valley. Often when I tell people I attend UWEC, they automatically assume that it is a party school and lots of drinking goes on because it is in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has been known for being a “drinking state” and I want to know why and where it originated. If this state revolves so heavily around drinking, I want to know what happened when prohibition took place.
I have never learned about prohibition in detail, let alone to the extent of the impact it had on Wisconsin. I have only been taught about what it was and when it took place, but other than that, I know close to nothing. I am curious to see the effects of pre- and post-prohibition in Wisconsin. Was there a population change? Did alcohol taxes go up? Was the illegal sale of alcohol largely present? Questions like these are going to base my research and help me learn what prohibition really was and the actual toll it took on a city I am familiar with, Eau Claire.
To give a better understanding of what went on during prohibition, and how it affected the city of Eau Claire, you could give an overview of the Breweries that were founded in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is home to numerous well known breweries that have lots of history surrounding the era of prohibition. Since Wisconsin is home to several famous breweries and also the close proximity of all of this alcohol, this could be one of the reasons why UW Eau Claire is looked at to be a party school.
A great topic choice! A lot of us who have lived in Wisconsin our whole lives do not know the impact prohibition had in Wisconsin, which makes this an interesting topic for everyone. It’s possible that prohibition had minimal effect on Wisconsin, and that’s why it’s known as the drinking state. A good source choice might be looking into how the prohibition affected the beer companies of Wisconsin, like Pabst, Miller, and Leinenkugel.
I completely agree that Wisconsin is generally known for being a drinking state. I think another interesting aspect of this would be the impact it had on German and Scandinavian immigrants and the overall cultural shock it must have been for them to enter a country were it was illegal to drink.
Huh, that’s definitely something I had never thought about. What would it be like in the 1920s to immigrate to the U.S. and for it not to be legal to drink, especially from countries with traditions around beer and wine. Were the laws just summarily ignored (as they were for many U.S.-born Americans)?
I feel like this is a very interesting topic and will be fun to research. I as well don’t know much about the prohibition other than what it was. When doing your research I would look into the past bars and see what happened to them during the time. It would be cool to find places or read about houses that would hide their alcohol in different or unusual places. Overall I think that your blog will be very interesting and I’m excited to see what you learn.