MOUNT VERNON — To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition, Flappers Bar & Grille will feature happy hour specials and servers in costumes, according to Flappers owner Andrea Franz.
Franz said she was approached by her distributing company, Matesich Distributing of Newark, in order to promote Budweiser. Posters at Flappers highlight the first delivery of Budweiser to Washington, D.C., after the repeal of the 18th Amendment on April 7, 1933. Franz noted that she thought the promotion would fit nicely with her establishment “because of our name and the period of our building.” Servers will be dressed as flappers for the event, and Franz is encouraging anyone else planning to attend to dress in period costume, too.
The event at Flappers, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. today, will include music from the Prohibition era, and Franz hopes to have a dance instructor present to instruct people in basic Charleston dance moves.
Jason Bankes, a salesman for Matesich Distributing, said he’s not sure if the promotion is nationwide, but said his boss assigned salesmen to target one establishment in their sales area to promote the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.
“Flappers is the perfect place for it,” said Bankes.
Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, which made it illegal to make, sell or transport alcohol in the nation, on Jan. 16, 1919. Knox County got caught up in the ensuing lawlessness. On May 9, 1931, the Republican-News of Mount Vernon ran a story reporting that the alleged “bad boy beer baron,” Collin Hogle, had a shootout with law enforcement officers on Vine Street in front of the newspaper office.
The News wrote that Hogle had just stepped from his car when the Deputy Sheriff F.D. Mason handed him a search warrant. Hogle then “leaped back into his car and began shooting.” However, Hogle was far outnumbered by the four law enforcement officers, and was shot three times. The hospital reported that he was paralyzed from the waist down after the incident.
After the shooting, law enforcement officers went to Hogle’s house and found 144 bottles of home-brewed alcohol, and 20 more gallons in the process of being brewed. Hogle died from his wounds two days after the shooting.
A year before the shooting, the News ran a story about Hogle drawing a pistol on law enforcement officers when they tried to remove evidence of his bootlegging activities from his “reputed speakeasy.” The alleged speakeasy was in an area reported to be Fairview Addition, presently known as the area around Johnson Avenue off of Columbus Road in Mount Vernon. The News reported that while Hogle pulled a gun on the sheriff and the deputy, his wife began pouring out bottles of beer and wine. After 10 days of barricading himself in his house, Hogle surrendered to the authorities and appeared in court to face a charge or resisting an officer. He pled guilty and was handed a 30-day jail term.
Former News editor and historian Frederick Lorey wrote that in 1908, the issue of prohibition was on the ballot in Mount Vernon, and the city went dry by a margin of 200 votes. However, the ban was only on the sale of alcohol, and the well-off residents of the town were well-stocked with supplies of alcohol. Lorey also wrote about a “fiery but potent libation” known as Jamaica Ginger, otherwise known as “jake.”
According to Lorey, at one point during the prohibition era, a shipment of jake reached central Ohio that contained impurities which caused a loss of control in the drinker’s feet. This was quickly known as “jakefoot.” In his book, “The History of Knox County, Ohio” Lorey writes, “The Mount Vernon area was hit particularly hard, and some dozens of local drinkers walked with feet flopping strangely. Most eventually recovered, but for some unfortunates, improvement came slowly or not at all.”
Lorey also wrote that during Prohibition, Ohio 3 was a rum-running route between Cleveland and Columbus. According to Lorey, the rum-running cars were easy to spot, and certain hilly areas in the county forced the cars to drive slowly.
“The hills between Amity and Loudonville forced the heavily loaded cars to slow down, and became favorite spots for sheriffs to try to stop them, or, more often, for hijackers to lie in ambush. Several gun battles developed but there were never any reports of known casualties in this county,” he wrote.
In Franklin County, Westerville was home to the Anti-Saloon League for many years. The ASL moved its headquarters to the city in 1909. The organization was very influential and is credited with helping lobby lawmakers to pass the 18th Amendment. However, the ASL lost much of its influence after the repeal of prohibition in 1933. Westerville remained a dry city up until 2006, when the sale of alcohol was legalized in some restaurants.
