The Great Dry Crusade: Seattle’s Religious Leaders Unite to Close the Saloons
In a packed meeting at the First M.E. Church, clergy and temperance advocates organized a new anti-saloon league, aiming to dismantle the liquor trade through moral pressure rather than just legislation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A large meeting was held in the First M.E. Church on Third Avenue and Marion Street last evening, where an anti-saloon league was organized. The object of this league is to disband saloons and resorts where liquor is sold.
Rev. E.M. Bostwick was chosen chairman, and Geo. W. Smith became secretary. Rev. O.H. Williamson, Esq., is associated with the Northeast of the National Anti-Saloon League, who gave an outline of the methods of organization and the line of work to follow. Mr. Williamson does not believe in saloons, but believes there should be some means for public and individual action.
Representatives from each of the Young People's Religious and Temperance Societies of the city were present. A list was read containing names from these organizations who will constitute an executive committee.
As a committee to make arrangements for permanent offices, the following were named: Rev. A.W. Ames, Rev. Geo. W. Smith, Geo. T. Costerton, J.V. Eaves, and Mrs. I.M. Davis.
On motion of Mr. Costerton, all were requested to be present at the council meeting on Monday, when the saloon question will be considered again.
This 1906 report captures the grassroots momentum that would eventually lead to Washington State's prohibition in 1916, years before national Prohibition. It highlights how local religious and civic groups acted as the primary enforcers of moral order in a booming, often rowdy port city, laying the groundwork for the social control mechanisms that defined early 20th-century Seattle.
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