THE SALOON IN NASHVILLE AND THE COMING OF PROHIBITION IN TENNESSEE

Abstract

Saloons in Nashville and other American cities offered more than food and drinks to patrons: they served as centers of entertainment and places to seek companionship. Despite their importance, drinking establishments in Nashville and other parts of the urban south have been little studied. By the early twentieth century, Nashville saloons had reached two hundred in number and faced little regulation. Yet, in little over ten years, legal saloons were forced to close. Their downfall was rapid because the city's saloons became a main target of Tennessee evangelical organizations and progressive politicians like Edward Carmack. They made drinking establishments for the wealthy become equally detestable as ones in slums to the Tennessee voting community. Tennessee politicians responded by removing saloon backers from political office in Nashville. Cities were the last strongholds of saloons in the South. The saga of those businesses in Nashville was indicative of events across the region.