The Temperance Movement Battled Madison's Breweries
The Madison Heritage Series
Owning a State Street beer establishment wasn’t easy in the early 1900s. As the temperance movement gathered momentum throughout the country, increasing numbers of Americans wanted alcohol consumption outlawed.
Founded in 1863, Hausmann’s Capital Brewery flourished on the corner of State and Gorham streets. But in 1907, temperance proponents scored a shrewd victory by rallying the public against saloons’ corrosive effects on University of Wisconsin students. When temperance leaders engineered a
“dry zone” within a half-mile of campus, the Hausmanns used their influence to ensure that the zone stopped just short of their brewery.
In 1917, voters outlawed alcohol sales in the entire city. The Hausmanns simply opened a warehouse in Middleton to serve Madison customers.
But such fortune couldn’t last. A 1919 ban on drinking, selling and transporting alcohol ushered in the Prohibition Era nationwide. The Capital Brewery building burned down in 1923.
Sidebar:
Madison enjoyed a thriving beer industry spearheaded by German-Americans. Five breweries were in operation from 1866 to 1874: Fauerbach Brewery, Rodermund Brewery, Capital Brewery, Breckheimer Brewery and Empire Brewery. Only two, the Capital and the Fauerbach, lasted until Prohibition. In the 1920s they both served food and nonalcoholic beverages. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 and drinking alcoholic beverages was legal again, Fauerbach patrons celebrated in predictable fashion.
Marker is at the intersection of West Gorham Street and State Street, on the left when traveling west on West Gorham Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
