Dry States and Counties

Before Prohibition, the United States had several states and counties that had enacted their own state and county "dry" laws. Throughout the 19th century, dry areas often reflected the temperance movement, promoted through religious and social reform groups for the reduction or abolition of drinking. Indeed, prior to the early part of the 20th century, many states from the South and Midwest region went "dry" through statewide prohibition laws. For instance, both Kansas and Maine were among the first states in the late 1800s to enact such legislation. Moreover, even within those states that were otherwise considered "wet," countless local governments utilized "local option" laws that enabled an individual county or municipality to prohibit alcohol sales. These arid spaces were often rural and heavily dominated by Protestant religious factions, while the cities remained wet as alcohol was more culturally tolerable within them. The increasingly quilted landscape of dry states and counties provided a grassroots structure upon which the national prohibition movement built to a successful conclusion in the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919.