The rise and growth of temperance

McDonald County Historical Society

by Alberta Anders

McDonald County is and has, apparently, always been a very unique part of this country. A drive from Pineville to Lanagan via EE can only confirm what a beautiful area this is. The Queen Ann's Lace, or is it Yarrow?, the daisies, brown eyed Susan, flowering clover, so beautiful to behold (please don't pick, leave for future generations to enjoy) A check in the "Illustrated History of McDonald County, Missouri From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, edited and compiled by J. A. Sturges Attorney at Law, Pineville, Mo. 1897." confirms that our current problems with alcohol (currently on our rivers) are not a new problem (Thanks to our very competent local Law Enforcement this problem is under control.) Mrs.
Lora S. LaMance reported in this publication, "The Temperance Work in McDonald County" as follows:

"The rise and growth of temperance sentiment in McDonald county has been somewhat out of the ordinary. To fully understand it, we must go back to the early days of its settlement. At the first, the county was largely settled by people from the Southern and Western states. The most genial, hospitable people on earth, their very qualities of BON HOMIE and good fellowship inclined them to convivialtity. There had been no temperance agitation, and none were troubled with scruples as to dram drinking or social treating. Most of the stores sold whisky, and sold it with as little concealment as they did their calicoes; every farmer brought his jug with him when he came to town to trade; every horse swapping or sale of land was confirmed by treats all around; every house and barn raising was dedicated by the passing of the whisky jug from hand to hand; the guests at every wedding grew hilarious with exhilarating corn-juice, while all too often the mourners of the funeral, drowned their sorrows the same day in the oblivion of drunkenness. Picnics, elections, and holidays were days of "a general good time," which expression covered everything from being gentlemanly foxy to lying dead drunk in the fence corner. Thus were sown the seeds for a bitter harvest of dissipation.......All this turbulent time two and three saloons were doing a flourishing business at the county seat, then a hamlet of less than two hundred inhabitants, but from its position the center of all this turmoil. Undoubtedly much of the incitement to strife came from the same iniquitous saloons, the breeders of mischief everywhere. Then again, there came back from the war a loose, wreckless class of persons, who drift as naturally to places where the law is weak and moral force at a low ebb, as the waters run down the hill. The period of 1865-70 was a shameful one that all of McDonald's Citizens would be glad to forget. It was a current saying that Pineville was the worst drinking hole in the state, and this fact furnishes the only reasonable explanation of how such an apalling list of crimes and misdemeanors could be committed in the midst of what had been before, and is at the present time, a most peaceful people....." There is much more, very interesting, and the rest of the story can be read at the McDonald County Historical Museum at 302 Harmon (formerly Health Department, next door to the U. S. Post Office in Pineville) - You are cordially invited to drop in, the hours are Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m. Copies of Judge Sturges fascinating and informative book are available for a donation of $25, or can be mailed to you for $30, just write to P. O. Box 372, Pineville, Missouri, 64856.