Yellow Trail exhibit reveals Indiana's Prohibition history

A new exhibit at the Yellow Trail Museum and Visitor Information Center is all about the hooch.

"Hoosiers & Their Hooch: Perspectives on Prohibition” is open now through Dec. 4th.

The exhibit chronicles the history of prohibition and the temperance movement, explains Yellow Trail Museum Manager Lizzie Flora.

“It specifically looks at Indiana overall,” she says. “But there is a rich history of the temperance movement in Hope.”

The panel exhibit spans the dawn of the temperance movement in the 1900s through to the present day repeal of Sunday alcohol sales and offers visitors the opportunity to experience the era through images and graphics on loan from the Indiana Historical Society.
Historic figures, such as Edward S. Shumaker of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League, are presented alongside bootleggers, moonshiners and bathtub distillers to tell the story of how rebels maneuvered their way around prohibition laws.

“We also have items from the temperance movement and stories we have collected over the past year talking about the reaction of people when the Oasis Liquor store opened here in Hope,” Flora says.

Some pieces of Hope history are also included, Flora says.

“We recently had someone come in and donate two and a half and five cent coins that were good at the pool hall,” she says. “They have ‘Hope Saloon’ on the back of them.”

During the interim when the exhibit leaves in December to when it returns in 2019, the museum will work to build its collection of local prohibition-era stories and items, Flora says.

The exhibit is part of an ongoing collaborative effort between Yellow Trail and the Indiana Historical Society, explains Erin Anderson, president of the Yellow Trail Museum board.

“The Indiana Historical Society’s history services department works with smaller historical societies and museums all across the state,” Anderson says. “One of the things they do is offer traveling exhibits that come for four to six weeks.”

The allure of the exhibit is something that is difficult to deny, as prohibition is something people love to talk about, she says.

With the return of “Hoosiers and Their Hooch” next year, Anderson is hopeful added local elements will make prohibition’s story even more special to the community and not a moment in history only known to larger, urban areas like Chicago and Atlantic City.

“When the exhibit comes back and we are able to make a better connection between the subject and what was going on in our corner of the county, I hope people are able to say, ‘Look at this new section! It is all about us,’” Anderson says.

Flora is hopeful visitors to the current exhibit leave with a greater appreciation for the prohibition era.

“It is interesting how the exhibit delves into how the temperance movement helped drive the women’s suffrage movement, helped the repeal of the 21st Amendment, created thousands of jobs and was a boost to the post-depression economy when it came back,” Flora says. “We talk about bootlegging and gangsters, too, which is always interesting.”