At least in their Irish context in the 1830's and 40's, a wide range of
temperance halls were in use, some of which were dedicated buildings built
or purchased by wealthy (or well-looked after) local societies, most of
which were a few rented rooms.

A fine description of the operation one of the more elaborate examples can
be found in MP Justin McCarthy's autobiographical recollections of his Cork
boyhood in _The Story of an Irishman_.

As others have noted, these halls were on one level headquarters for
temperate sociability, particularly dances, tea parties, and dinners--a kind
of substitute pub, if there could ever be such a thing.

On another, more ambitious level, many were consciously modelled after
mechanic's institutes, and played host to lectures, classes, and debating
societies, many of which had little to do with temperance as such.  They
also, as has been noted, almost always served as libraries with donated or
purchased books and periodicals available for reading and discussion...My
sense is that temperance halls in Britain and the US served in much the same
capacity...

Paul Townend



-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Stephen Miller <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, November 14, 1999 12:39 AM
Subject: Re: Temperance halls of the 19th century


>Dr. Kohler,
>
>The temperance halls date to much earlier in the nineteenth-century, to
>the 1830s at least. Many buildings were built for temperance organizations
>and named "Temperance Hall," other buildings were borrowed or rented or
>bought and called the "temperance hall" only informally.  I don't know of
>any books specifically dedicated to the history of temperance halls, but
>accounts of particular halls crop up in the scholarship.  In chapter 3 of
>their "Beware the First Drink!" (1991), for example, Leonard Blumberg and
>William L. Pittman study those who subscribed for the building of a
>Washingtonian temperance hall in 1842 Baltimore.  This was planned as a
>two-story structure with a hall seating 2,500 people on the second floor
>and shops for rent on the first floor.
>
>But the Washingtonians had no monopoly on temperance halls.  In 1839
>Philadelphia blacks erected their own temperance hall, funded partially by
>the black American Moral Reform Society.  It was then destroyed by a mob
>of whites, who may have been predominantly Irish, in the race riot of
>August 1842.
>
>Your particular hall may have been built by a philanthropist or stock
>company associated with the WCTU, or the Salvation Army, or any one of a
>number of temperance organizations.
>
>In addition to serving as meeting halls, nineteenth-century temperance
>halls might also house office space (for the organization or for rent to
>temperance people) or a library.  Unless the owner of the hall was
>comfortably wealthy, the hall was also probably available for a fee to
>temperance-friendly political clubs (Democrats had to meet in taverns),
>lyceum events, and who knows what else.  Someone should write a book about
>temperance halls!
>
>Jon
>
>
>--------------------------------------
>Jon Stephen Miller
>Managing Editor
>Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
>Department of English
>The University of Iowa
>Iowa City, Iowa  52242-1492
>[log in to unmask]  (319) 335-0592
>======================================
>
>On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Alfred Kohler wrote:
>
>>                                November 13, 1999
>>
>>     At the turn of the century there were "temperance
>>   halls" in many American cities.  Some of these
>>   buildings have survived although they may now be
>>  in use for other purposes (e.g., as community
>>  centers).
>>
>>     What I'm curious about is which organization
>>  established and ran these temperance halls.  Since
>>  there were many temperance halls, they apparently
>> were run as part of the program of some organization.
>>  Was it the WCTU?  Or possibly the Salvation Army?  Or
>>  maybe some branch of the woman suffrage movement?
>>  Or were they run by government as a kind of municipal
>>  shelter?
>>
>>    Exactly what activities were carried out at the
>>  temperance halls?  Public education?  Emergency
>>  shelter?  I've been unable to find any history of
>>  the temperance halls.
>>
>>     Specifically, there was a temperance hall at
>>  403 Greenwich Street in Manhattan, New York City, at
>>  about 1880.  The building on that site today dates
>> from about 1920 and so cannot have been the original
>>  temperance hall building.
>>
>>    I'd be grateful for any help or references that
>> anyone can provide about these questions.
>>
>> Alfred Kohler,
>>
>> St. Francis College,
>> Brooklyn,  New York   11201
>>
>>
>>
>>
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