Enjoying a Brew

Respectable women weren’t welcome to saloons back in the Wild West, meaning they had a hard time getting their share of hard liquor or beer. Up until World War I, unless they were saloon girls, prostitutes or dancers, women were barred from entry in most saloons.

The saloons that did cater to women did so mostly through the back door. A few decades later, in 1893, it was respectable women like those who were denied service that helped found the Anti-Saloon league, the most powerful prohibition lobby in America.