How Connecticut Thumbed its Nose at Prohibition

Through the late 1800s, the temperance movement built up political strength and by 1919, Congress passed a Constitutional Amendment ushering in the Era of Prohibition. The making and sale of alcohol was prohibited. Just two states refused to ratify it – and Connecticut was one of them. There were 1,500 speakeasies in the state, rum-runners operating on Long Island Sound, and only a dozen federal agents assigned to enforce the ban statewide. Liquor flowed through Connecticut almost as if the ban wasn’t in effect. Take a step back in time with Danbury Museum Executive Director Brigid Guertin.