Published October 13, 2019
By Iris Nelson
Within a few years of Quincy’s settlement, the
riverfront hummed with growth and commercial activity. Water Street, later
known as Front Street or the “Levee,” harbored a mix of steamboat passengers,
tradesmen, speculators, and ne’er-do-wells looking for what might come their
way. The scene was boosted by an assortment of dry goods stores, saloons,
hotels and restaurants. River and rail transportation
brought to Front Street a spirited mix of entertainment and river business.
Well before and after the turn of the century saloons
such as the Jefferson Renfrow Great Western Saloon and the Olive Branch Saloon,
and hotels including the Steamboat Hotel, the Pacific Hotel, the Sherman House
and the “notorious” New Orleans, represented a booming river culture. Social gathering establishments grew and
prospered. From this amalgam of
activity, age-old social vices multiplied at the water’s edge. Plenty of whiskey
and a lively burlesque nightlife generated vigorous bordello traffic.
Centered near the
waterfront at the foot of Oak Street the initial red light district flourished
for decades. The district was legalized by the city council from its beginning. When the new railroad depot was constructed at
Second and Oak in 1899, most bordellos were razed and many houses on Maine,
Hampshire, Vermont, Broadway, Spring and Oak streets were taken over by “ladies
of the night.”
Unhampered by authorities there were “50 brothels on
Maine below Third Street” at the turn of the century. Shortly after this time, aldermen voted to
fix the district limits at the river, Third Street, Vermont and Broadway. The hub of Quincy’s well-known “famous line
of vice” was at Broadway and Second. Police raid reports referred to women as
inmates or inmates of “sporting resorts.” Article headings such as
Police Raid a Broadway Resort, Red Transom
District Raid,
and
Naughty Girls
Fined $5 Each,
were common news captions.
By 1918 local officials and public-spirited citizens were
calling for an end to the infectious practices.
Eleven brothels remained. A story
by the
Quincy Daily Journal
declared
that Quincy’s famous line must go after 50 years of “deadened public sentiment”
on social evil. Aldermen Samuel S. Hyatt called upon Mayor J. A. Thompson and
Chief of Police Melton to enforce the state and city laws against prostitution.
Hyatt’s resolution was printed in the paper and editors stated, it “is expected
to pass the council by a unanimous vote.”
In one of the “shrewdest political maneuvers in the history of Quincy,”
says the Journal, Mayor Thompson took away from Hyatt the credit of the
resolution and announced that he had already abolished the red light district
and its 11 houses on lower Broadway and Vermont by an order to take effect July
1. On June 30, 1918 Quincy’s colony of prostitutes was officially ended after
60 years. In short order, however, illicit practices flourished in the core of
the city as girls and gambling dens crept into the shadow of the Adams County
court house.
With Prohibition laws, underworld trade expanded when all
liquor sales came to a halt on July 1, 1919. Quincy mayor, P. J. O’Brien, said,
“There will be no dram shops in Quincy because no saloon licenses will be issued
and all existing licenses will expire July 1.” The National
Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, carried out the intent
of the 18th Amendment prohibiting liquor sales. It was official in
January, 1920.
On that last wet weekend everyone stocked up! The well-supplied
wholesale liquor houses were jammed until midnight. An
estimated $100,000 worth of liquor was sold on that last day.
Dick’s Brewery ran out of beer early and let their
drivers help Ruff Brewery. Crowds were orderly for the most part but paddy
wagons were kept busy. Old Saloon No. 9 closed. Both breweries were working
full force, producing beer with 2.75 percent alcoholic content. There were 123
saloons at the time. Some closed permanently, but most opened Tuesday as Soft
Drink Parlors.
Secretive saloons or nightclubs called speakeasies mushroomed,
even around Washington Square. In the underground world liquor flowed
accompanied by customs of the Roaring Twenties.
Whiskey, gin, and other spirits were secretly produced
by residents, business establishments and farmers as they made their own
private stashes. The public demand for moonshine kept the liquor stills going
day and night. The police “sponge squad” raided small operations. Large scale bootleggers
set up operation in caves, hidden along the river, and in the middle of the
city, making millions of dollars.
The big profits of large-scale bootlegging brought in new
type of criminal, mob bosses and gangsters. Quincy gained the reputation as
“Little Chicago” and had its own mob boss. The violent underworld of mobs and
gangsters thrived. Suspicious operations were sometimes immune to authorities. Not all,
but many officials were on the take. This was an unspoken problem with gambling
and prostitution for decades before Prohibition. Between the illegal liquor
discoveries, violence in shady districts and deaths as a result of bad hooch,
cops, good and bad were in the middle of it all.
One of the largest still raids took place in 1931 by Chief of Police
Joseph McIntyre. Early one morning a surprise call was made at the front door
of 1028 Broadway. One of the biggest stills ever uncovered locally was hidden
at this location. Over 21,000 gallons of corn mash were confiscated along with
200 five-gallon tins. The plant would have been capable of producing 200-300
gallons of liquor daily. Owner of the property, Joseph I. Zengel, later paid a
$400 fine and the still’s owner Milo Calles was indicted. In 1933 a raid in the
basement of old St. Peter’s church at 9th and York revealed another
substantial still. During Prohibition it was said that Quincy was “wetter than the
Mississippi.”
Finally, after more
than 14 years Prohibition came to an end on December 5, 1933. Temperance
societies had campaigned for liquor abstinence and the harmful social effects
of drinking for decades, including the sometimes lethal result of liquor cut
with grain alcohol and coloring. The vices typical of many river cities
had a strong hold in those communities beginning early and expanding in the colorful
years of the Roaring 20s and after.
Iris Nelson served as reference librarian and archivist at the Quincy Public Library until retirement. She is a civic volunteer, member of the Lincoln Douglas Debate Interpretive Center Advisory Board, Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County, and other historical organizations. She is a local historian and has authored articles in historical journals.
Sources
“Hyatt to Ask Aldermen to Abolish Line.”
Quincy Daily Journal,
June 17, 1918, page 11.
“Mayor Hastens to Abolish Red light District.”
Quincy Daily Journal,
June 18, 1918, page 3.
“Old Days Pass Forever Sunday When Line Ends.”
Quincy Daily Journal,
June 29, 1918, page 3.
“Red Transom District Raid.”
Quincy
Daily Journal,
October 14, 1903, page 5.
“Choir Girl in Tenderloin.”
Quincy
Daily Journal,
August 1, 1907, page 3.
“Police Raid a Broadway Resort.”
Quincy
Daily Journal,
July 30, 1913, page 10.
“Fight in the Red Transome [sic] District,”
Quincy Daily Journal,
April 12, 1907, page 5.
“Liquor’s Last Day Not Taken Seriously Here,”
Quincy Daily Journal,
June
30, 1919.
“All Roads Led to Quincy on Last Wet Day,”
Quincy Daily Journal,
July
1, 1919, page 8.
Tillson, General John
, History of
the City of Quincy
, revised and corrected by Hon. William H. Collins by direction of the
Quincy Historical Society. [S.L.: s.n.],
1992.
