As the city of Lowell came into being just as Americans were drinking more alcohol
than ever before.
In this climate, some early Lowellians started taking temperance pledges and forming societies
to encourage total abstinence from alcohol.
Through groups such as the Lowell Cold Water Army, some women used the temperance movement
as an outlet for power and organizing.
In later years, many temperance groups were also aligned with suffrage clubs.
In Lowell, the Womanâs ChristianTemperance Union (WCTU) and the Equal Suffrage League
were neighbors and allies.
Temperance finally had its day on January 16, 1919, when the Eighteenth Amendment to
the United States Constitution was ratified. Most people rejected
the idea of a dry society,
and prohibition was repealed in 1933.
Nonetheless, Americans today drink less than a third of what they consumed in 1830.