This collection of stories, images, ads, news articles and factoids is designed to give you an introductory look at the local history of the 1920s and 1930s in Sheboygan County. It deals with vice- Prohibition, prostitution, gambling, raids on stills and crime over two decades. It is by no means comprehensive and much of what has been collected is story. This is meant to be fun and informative -- a great conversation starter.

Part of a series examining the history of crime and justice in America, this volume looks at the development of vice. The contributors assess the prohibition years, the geography of urban sex, the growth of gambling and the structure of intercity criminal activity.

Prohibition was imposed by eager temperance movements organizers who sought to shape public behavior through alcoholic beverage control in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The success of reformers' efforts resulted in National Prohibition in America from 1920 to 1933, but it also resulted in a thriving illegal business in the manufacture and distribution of illegal liquor. The history of Prohibition and the resulting illegal drinking is frequently told through the lens of crime and violence in Chicago and other major East Coast cities. Often neglected are the effects of Prohibition on the Western part of the United States and how Westerners rose to the challenge of avoiding the consequences of illegal drinking. Illegal liquor was imported from abroad, made in stills using strange ingredients that were sometimes poisonous to the unlucky drinker. This history includes stories ranging from serious to quirky, and provides an entertaining account of how misguided efforts resulted in numerous unintended consequences.

In this volume the borders of North America serve as central locations for examining the consequences of globalization as it intersects with hegemonic spaces and ideas, national territorialism, and opportunities for—or restrictions on—mobility. The authors of the essays in this collection warn against falling victim to the myth of nation-states engaging in a valiant struggle against transnational flows of crime and vice. They take a long historical perspective, from Mesoamerican counterfeits of cacao beans used as currency to cattle rustling to human trafficking; from Canada’s and Mexico’s different approaches to the illegality of liquor in the United States during Prohibition to contemporary case studies of the transnational movement of people, crime, narcotics, vice, and even ideas. By studying the historical flows of contraband and vice across North American borders, the contributors seek to bring a greater understanding of borderlanders, the actual agents of historical change who often remain on the periphery of most historical analyses that focus on the state or on policy. To examine the political, economic, and social shifts resulting from the transnational movement of goods, people, and ideas, these contributions employ the analytical categories of race, class, modernity, and gender that underlie this evolution. Chapters focus on the ways power relations created opportunities for engaging in “deviance,” thus questioning the constructs of economic reality versus concepts of criminal behavior. Looking through the lens of transnational flows of contraband and vice, the authors develop a new understanding of nation, immigration, modernization, globalization, consumer society, and border culture.

It's hard to believe today, but Phoebus, Virginia was once the Wild West at one time, albeit, on the east coast. A place where alcohol flowed freely 24 hours a day at saloons running the length of Mellen and Mallory Street and a red-light district with brothels providing their services day and night along with riots, gun fights on the streets, salacious murders, and legendary tales of revenge. Early Phoebus had "more of the appearance of a new settlement on the western frontier" than a Southern city with centuries of history. And the people who settled in this community were most definitely pioneers in every sense. This book is an attempt to capture some of the stories and remember the people from the golden age of Phoebus saloons before Prohibition.