Whisky Sales and Hotel Tales of the Mennonite West Reserve 1873-1916

Summary: "...attempts to tell the story of liquor issues and hotel details that have largely been ignored in Mennonite historical studies of the original reserves for Mennonites in Manitoba, perhaps because it may be thought there are few actual details to discuss even though for many people, abstention from liquor consumption is what partly defines being a Mennonite. As with all matters relating to bars, information is scarce from a desire for anonymity among patrons. Thus a truthful exposé of bars/hotels and the consumption of liquor and spirits in the West Reserve becomes very much a forensic study to establish the true situation as facts are often mentioned in innuendo and obfuscation. This often is the case with local histories in retrospect or newspapers in describing current events of the day. Those events relating to West Reserve liquor stores and hotels (a euphemism for many to mean a bar) are often ignored in local histories but in early days the hotels and liquor stores were prominent features in the business life of towns and surrounding areas as were the operators of them in the social life of towns and of leadership roles in the recently emerging frontier settlements."--