‘Last call’: When Prohibition went into effect 100 years ago

One hundred years ago, the 18th Amendment took effect, banning alcohol nationwide.

In Washington, a local prohibition law had already been in effect for three years. Still, The Washington Post reported many parties were held on Jan. 16 to “mourn” the death of “John Barleycorn” (an old-fashioned word for alcohol).

Washington had gone dry ahead of the rest of the nation to “set an example.” And it did — though not in the way temperance activists may have intended. Already, The Post reported a thriving underground of bootleggers and home-brewers in the District. Both would become a nationwide phenomenon soon enough.