Song ‘Make Orleans County Dry’ shows passion locally in temperance movement
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 5, No. 41
This song, “Make Orleans County Dry,” was discovered in notebook from the pages of a birthday book for the W.C.T.U. in Gaines.
GAINES – A rousing song was found nestled in the pages of the Gaines W.C.T.U. (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) Birthday Book, a modest notebook with handwritten entries of members’ birthdays for each month of the year and another of the quiet gems in the Orleans County Dept. of History’s local history collection.
This is what gladdens the heart of a local historian! A quintessential piece of local history. The power of a single sheet of paper to evoke another era and a totally different sensibility.
Come comrades to the rescue, help make Orleans County dry,
In this glorious cause of temperance help to lift the standard high
And this shall be our slogan until victory draweth nigh,
Make Orleans County dry.
This composition directly connects a larger, national movement with its interpretation at the local level. What could be more local than a listing of the ten towns of Orleans?
The issue that galvanized the anonymous poet was the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, organized in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874 to combat the influence of alcohol on families and society.
Women of every rank and class could attest to the domestic abuse and impoverishment which resulted from the consumption of alcohol. Members pledged to abstain from all alcoholic beverages and opium and to encourage others to do likewise.
Earnest and committed women galvanized this movement. Locally, an early reference to a Temperance meeting appears in the February 4, 1874, issue of the Orleans Republican, when Rev. Mr. Hoyt spoke at the Free Will Baptist Church in East Gaines.
In June 1885, the temperance organizations in Orleans County were invited to a July 4th Temperance Basket Picnic at the grove property of Mr. C.J. Lewis. The Knowlesville Woman’s Christian Temperance Union furnished tea and coffee, ice cream and lemonade as well as confections, all at reasonable prices.
The semi-annual convention of the Orleans County Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was held in Albion in January 1890. The Millville Woman’s Temperance Union advertised their monthly meeting in 1895.
“Making Orleans County Dry” was a serious proposition. By 1908, the towns of Barre, Gaines and Yates had “voted dry” – well in advance of the 18th Amendment which introduced Prohibition in 1920. According to the Medina Daily Journal, nine towns were “dry” by June 1916, a statistic which helps date our song. We would venture to say that it was composed 1914-1916.
We cannot but smile at the anonymous poet’s rhymes, especially in the third verse.
Ten towns are in our county, six of which have closed their gates.
Barre, Carlton, Gaines and Kendall, Murray and the town of Yates,
Against the legalized saloon, which for the young awaits,
Make Orleans County dry.
His composition lends itself easily to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic. Appropriately enough, and continuing the tradition, the words of the Battle Hymn were set to the melody of John Brown’s Body, an abolitionist song.
