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Westerville brewery, distillery give nod to city's role in the Anti-Saloon League and Whiskey Wars • Ohio Capital Journal [1]
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Date: 2025-08-08
A war was brewing in Westerville 150 years ago.
Henry Corbin opened a saloon in Westerville in 1875, but the people did not want it.
“They thought that saloons brought in a bad element, that they would bring in crime, they would bring in certain kinds of people that they didn’t want,” said Westerville History Museum Manager Jackie Barton. “Make no mistake, people were drinking alcohol in Westerville. People would get their alcohol at the pharmacy. It was medicinal.”
People protested the saloon by egging it, throwing rocks through the windows, and setting it on fire before ultimately blowing it up with dynamite.
The Corbins came back in 1879 and opened the saloon back up, but it was blown up again and that was the end of the Whiskey Wars.
“When you really think about the fact that’s domestic terrorism, it starts to really make you think about how people were engaging and dealing with their stress around this idea of a saloon,” Barton said.
The Westerville Whiskey Wars set the scene for Ohio and Westerville’s major role in the Anti-Saloon League and Prohibition. Aside from a short period after the 21st Amendment, Uptown Westerville remained dry until 2006.
Today, alcohol flows freely in Westerville and it has transformed the uptown area.
“They’ve been so successful in making it a dining destination, an entertainment destination in the old historic part of Uptown,” said Joe Meyer, author of “Westerville: The War Machine of Prohibition.”
“That all came about, really, after alcohol sales were allowed and the redevelopment of the whole district.”
Prohibition
The Anti-Saloon League started in Oberlin, Ohio in 1893 as a statewide organization that quickly expanded nationally.
The League moved its national headquarters from Washington D.C., to Westerville in 1909 and Westerville Public Library’s Anti-Saloon League Museum is located in the League’s old headquarters.
The League’s publication The American Issue was also in Westerville and had a circulation of more than 18 million in 1920. The League mailed more than forty tons of mail each month out of Westerville, which earned the nickname “The Dry Capital of the World.”
“It seems so archaic to us now, in some ways, to think there were tons of people that were driven by the idea of trying to make everyone not drink any alcohol,” Barton said.
Many people believed alcohol was the root of many social problems.
The 18th Amendment was ratified on Jan. 16, 1919, which made prohibition the law of the land.
But cracks in the League were starting to form, Barton said. Some members wanted to push for enforcement while others wanted to continue educating folks on why alcohol is bad.
“There was really a schism in the organization between these two — rule of law versus hearts and mind campaign,” Barton said.
Bootleggers who illegally manufactured and sold alcohol became prominent figures as a direct response to Prohibition. The Great Depression took hold in 1929 and the federal government saw the potential tax income from alcohol sales.
“(Prohibition) was a failed experiment,” said Jim Seitz, of the Westerville History Museum.
The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment in 1933 and there was a brief period of time where Westerville served alcohol.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act into law in 1933, which legalized the sale of beer and wine with an alcohol content of up to 3.2%. A Westerville pool hall owner started serving beer, but Westerville voted itself dry in November.
The Anti-Saloon League became the Temperance Education Foundation in 1934, which stayed in Westerville until 1973.
Liquor License Vote
Westerville voters approved a liquor license for the first time in the Uptown District in 2004. It was for Old Bag of Nails Pub, but Michael’s Pizza ended up serving the first beer in Uptown Westerville in 2006 after they also received their liquor license.
Ohio allows localities to ban the sale of liquor and the state’s alcohol laws give voters a chance to decide on the sale of alcoholic beverages at the precinct level. This typically affects the type of alcohol sales, days alcohol can be sold, and carryout purposes, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. Liquor licenses are address specific in Westerville.
Selling alcohol has improved Uptown Westerville’s restaurant selection, Seitz said.
“The restaurant makes most of their money off their beverage sales, not the food sales,” he said. “So if you don’t have the high priced beverages, then you’re losing a huge portion of your profit.”
Not everyone was for serving alcohol in Westerville and an opposition group called STOP (Safety and Tradition Over Profits) popped up during the 2004 election.
“I definitely still hear people bring up that they think it’s a shame that we’re not still dry,” Barton said.
Temperance Row Brewing Company
Temperance Row Brewing Company was the first brewery to open in Westerville in 2014, just down the street from the League’s old headquarters building.
“We’re having beer about 200 yards away from the nucleus of people that didn’t want it,” said Tony Cabilovski, owner of Temperance Row Brewing. “It’s hard to wrap our heads around this being the central base for so much anti-alcohol propaganda back in the day.”
Several of the brewery’s beers pay homage to Westerville’s history, including Prohibition Pilsner, Corbin’s Revenge IPA, Forty Ton Porter and Gunpowder IPA.
“If you were here on a Tuesday or Thursday night at 7:30 (when Westerville was dry), it was kind of a sleepy town,” Cabilovski said. “A lot of the shops are already closed. And back then, the dynamic and the makeup of the shops were different. … But if you come here on a Tuesday or Thursday night now, it’s a much more vibrant town. … It’s changed everything for, I think, the better.”
Westerville is now home to four breweries — Temperance, North High Brewing, Campfire Brewing and Grizzlybird Brewing.
“I think, not just with alcohol, but any community is a little afraid to change initially,” Cabilovski said. “I think there’s even a nostalgia factor. Some people just like being known as a dry town.”
Westerville Whiskey Wars
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Westerville Whiskey Wars, which lasted from 1875 to 1879.
High Bank Distillery opened their third location in Westerville about a year ago — in the same location as the town’s original post office where forty tons of prohibition propaganda was mailed each month.
“It was definitely a building that called out to us,” said Adam Hines, co-founder of High Bank Distillery. “It’s ironic for sure, but it’s a story that I love to tell.”
The distillery has a speakeasy in the basement called P.O. Box 21, another ode to Westerville’s history.
High Bank’s flagship whiskey is Whiskey War and each bottle tells the story of Corbin and the Westerville Whiskey Wars.
“I think (Corbin) would be proud that there is a local Columbus brand telling the story of the whiskey wars … via whiskey,” Hines said.
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