The Midwestern Rum-runners

Published: Feb. 5, 2021, 10:25 p.m.

One hundred years ago, in the aftermath of World War I, the United States was well into its experiment with national temperance. Michigan wasn’t a stranger to Prohibition — the state banned alcohol in 1918, about two years before Prohibition went into effect nationwide. Despite restrictions, thirsty Michiganders still found ways to get their hands on booze. And before long, alcohol smugglers in the Toledo-Detroit-Windsor region developed a thriving trade, due in part to an increasingly popular tool for transporting the sauce to the speakeasies: the automobile. GUESTS: Joe Bog, author of Prohibition’s Proving Ground: Cops, Cars, & Rumrunners in the Toledo-Detroit-Windsor Corridor Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work. Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.