Lynden Goes Dry
In a notable outlier for Whatcom County, Lynden voters decide to ban alcohol, prompting a pledge from the council to enforce the new temperance measures.
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.
Our townsmen have voted to have Lynden a 'dry town' and the council have obligated themselves to make it such. It is the will of the majority that rules in our democratic land and we are pleased to know that temperance has carried the day. It is a notable fact that Lynden is the only town in Whatcom County that went 'dry' at the town elections that have been held this week. Now that this unpleasant question is virtually settled, let us all join hands and boost for Lynden and everything that will make Lynden prosperous.
“It is the will of the majority that rules in our democratic land and we are pleased to know that temperance has carried the day.”
Lynden's long history as a 'dry' town, heavily influenced by its Dutch Reformed roots, remains a defining element of its civic identity. While the prohibition laws were repealed federally in 1933, the town's cultural resistance to alcohol sales persisted in local policy for over a century, long outlasting this 1908 vote.
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