Michiganders had long fought for and won a state constitutional ban on sale, consumption, and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages in 1917, two years before Prohibition went national. The argument against booze was its impact on crime and families. But the ban didn’t help. Instead, bootlegging operations flourished, especially in Detroit, where rum-runners braved an iced over Detroit River in automobiles in order to bring Canadian whiskey in from Ontario – an operation that came to be known as the “Windsor-Detroit Funnel.”
This pipeline was responsible for 75% of all the alcohol smuggled into the United States during Prohibition. By the Great Depression, rum-running was Detroit’s second largest industry, bringing in some $215 million per year. Locally, the region’s speakeasies also flowed with booze, with roughly between 16,000 and 25,000 speakeasies operating in the Detroit area in 1928 alone, according to The Detroit News. Here are some of the images to take you back to this very unique and shadowy time for Michigan.
- Here, this beer-laden truck has broken through the ice of Lake St Clair while en-route to Detroit from Canada.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Here, a man destroys alcohol confiscated during raids in Detroit, using a fireman’s ax.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- A police officer shows off a hidden compartment in a car, revealing a cache of smuggled alcohol.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Here, we see alcohol being unloaded from an airplane seized during a Prohibition raid.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- And check out the exterior view of this blind pig located in the Shady Nook Barbeque and gas station at 10 Mile Road and Dequindre in Hazel Park.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Here’s the interior of a blind pig at 932 E Columbia near Randolph in downtown Detroit.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Members of the so-called clean-up squad are relaxing after a raid on the “Oasis” at the College of the City of Detroit.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Here, we see rum runners attempting to drive alcohol from Canada over the frozen Detroit River.
Walter P. Reuther Library
- Detroiters, in support of repealing Prohibition, demonstrate through the streets of downtown Detroit during the city’s “Beer Parade.”
Walter P. Reuther Library
- And here they are again riding inside a car decorated with crepe paper and the message “We Want Beer - Hamtramck” through Detroit in support of the repeal of Prohibition during the “Beer Parade.”
Walter P. Reuther Library
Amazing to think about the lengths people would go to get a hold of alcohol, even though there was overwhelming support for Prohibition before it passed. Tell us, do any of your families have ties to Detroit rum-running? Are the stories points of pride for your families or cause for shame? We would love to see you all weigh in.
Walter P. Reuther Library
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