Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Flint Federation (Flint, Mich.)

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The Flint chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union [WCTU] was founded in 1874, one of the first local unions of the organization in the state. The first meeting of the chapter drew fifty members, and the organization quickly grew to several hundred women and children over the next few years. Numbers were large enough that several separate chapters were formed in the Flint area, with their activities coordinated by the Flint Federation of the WCTU. In addition to the group's main goal, which was to outlaw the sale of alcoholic beverages, WCTU members worked to prevent the sale and distribution of tobacco, narcotics and pornography, and were active in the woman suffrage movement as well.

In 1908, twelve years before the passage of the eighteenth amendment, the Flint WCTU successfully campaigned for Genesee County to vote "dry" in a local option election. This proved to be a high point for Flint WCTU members. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the organization's numbers gradually declined. The group focussed on education campaigns, citizenship programs, and special projects such as sending fruit juice to soldiers overseas.

At the WCTU's height of influence during Prohibition there were two dozen local chapters in Flint and the surrounding county. As the membership aged and fewer young women joined, however, local chapters disbanded, as did the Flint Federation of WCTU chapters during the early 1970s. The remaining chapters continue as part of the Seventh District of the Michigan WCTU.

From the guide to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Flint Federation records, 1874-1980, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)

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Active 1874

Active 1980

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