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WWCTU Beginnings In December 1873, first in Fredonia, New York, followed by Jamestown, New York; Hillsboro, Ohio; and Washington Court House, Ohio, women marched to the saloons where they read Scripture, prayed and sang hymns. This marked the beginning of the Woman’s Crusades. They asked the owners to stop selling alcoholic beverages to their husbands and sons because the money was needed to care for their families. The women were successful stopping the sale of alcohol for a while. The news of their efforts spread across the country. Within three months, the Crusades had driven liquor out of 250 villages and towns. By the end of the Crusades, more than 900 communities in 31 states and territories experienced its impact. When the establishments began selling again, the women were determined to organize, and as a result, the National Woman’s Christian |
TemperanceUnion (USA) formed Nov. 18 to 20, 1874, in Cleveland Ohio. (For more information, go to www.wctu.org/crusades.html). Growth beyond the borders of the United States began at the second convention of the National WCTU (USA), held in Cincinnati when Letitia Youmans of Canada came to study the WCTU methods before beginning her magnificent work organizing Canadian women.
In January 1876, “Mother” Stewart was invited to visit Britain, where she spent six months in almost uninterrupted meetings in England, Scotland and Ireland. She was hailed everywhere with great enthusiasm. The British Woman’s Temperance Association was organized on April 21, 1876, at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
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In 1883, Frances Willard, second national president of the WCTU (USA), visited the opium dens in San Francisco. Later as she looked over the Pacific Ocean, she said, “But for the intervention of the sea, the shores of China and the Far East would be part and parcel of our fair land. We are one world of tempted humanity; the mission of the white ribbon women is to organize the motherhood of the world for peace and purity, the protection and exaltation of its homes. We must sound forth a clear call to our sisters across the seas, and to our brothers none the less.” (For more information about Frances Willard and her restored home, go to www.wctu.org/frances_willard.html www.wctu.org/house.html). |
In October 1883 at the 10th annual WCTU convention held in Detroit, Willard closed her annual address with this recommendation:
