Historic Moments
   
  Dry for more than a century

Four years after the State of Illinois granted a charter to Northwestern University, an amendment to the charter kept Northwestern and the City of Evanston "dry" -- no alcohol sales allowed -- for more than a century.

In 1855, the year students first enrolled at the new institution, Northwestern's trustees asked the Illinois General Assembly to amend the charter to prohibit the manufacture or sale of "spirituous, vinous or fermented liquors within four miles of the location of said University."

The amendment called for a $25 fine for violations, to be collected by a Justice of the Peace.

At the time, Springfield was a battleground between the "wets" and "drys."

Trustee Grant Goodrich, one of the nine founders of Northwestern, played the key role in winning passage of the amendment. He was a natural for the task -- a lawyer, lay leader of the Methodist Church, a mover and shaker in Chicago political circles and the only founder who was a teetotaler.

Goodrich engineered an accord that kept the sale of alcohol off campus and out of Evanston, launching a "dry" period that would last for more than 120 years.

The amendment provided that the act banning sales of alcohol "may be repealed by the general assembly whenever they think proper." The wording set forth the only instance in which the General Assembly could change a provision of the Northwestern charter without the consent of the University.

After Prohibition was repealed, the "wets" began to prevail.

In 1934, the General Assembly approved a local option amendment to the Illinois Liquor Control Act. Soon taverns sprung up along Howard Street in Chicago and in Skokie, within four miles of Northwestern. There is no evidence that law enforcement officials tried to enforce the four-mile ban.

Evanston and Northwestern maintained their "dry" status. However, members of private clubs in the city could imbibe from their own bottles on club premises. Some restaurants allowed patrons to bring and consume their own liquor with meals. Blind pigs -- known in Prohibition as speakeasies -- were also available near Evanston during this "dry" time and nearby liquor stores offered delivery service to the "dry" town.

The changing culture and economic hard times in Evanston led the City Council in 1972 to approve the sale of liquor by an 11 to 8 margin, with one abstention. Supporters said liquor licenses would help businesses in the central business district especially hotels and restaurants.

Northwestern followed the trend in 1975, filing a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court. It asked the court to determine that the local option law impliedly repealed the charter ban on alcohol sales within four miles of the campus. The impetus for the legal action came from students after the State of Illinois allowed the sale of beer and wine to persons 19 years old. Students wanted to have a "rathskeller" in Norris University Center.

The University won its case, applied for a liquor license from Evanston and began serving liquor on campus, ending the ban on alcohol sales that had survived more than 120 years.

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