At the turn of the century, Oshkosh was known everywhere as a city full of saloons and soaking in beer. Into the swamp stepped an itinerant preacher named Sylvester Sweet.
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| A drawing of Sweet from 1904. |
Sweet moved to Oshkosh in 1901 to become pastor of the Second Baptist Church on Ninth Avenue (it no longer stands).
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| Second Baptist Church. Looking southwest from 9th & Nebraska streets. Courtesy of Bob Bergman. |
Sweet quit the church three years later over a money dispute and then ran for mayor as a Prohibitionist. He promised that, if elected, he would purify the city. Oshkoshers showed little interest in being purified. More than 6,000 votes were cast. Sweet received just 121 of them. He moved away a short time later.
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