After Prohibition arrived in 1920, the Oshkosh Brewing Company stopped making beer. But the dry law meant nothing at the little house next door to the brewery. In the basement of that home (highlighted in yellow) there was a booze factory.
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| The Oshkosh Brewing Company with what is now 1650 Doty Street, Oshkosh. |
The bootlegger there was named William Van Brocklin. At the time, he was the ringleader of one of the largest moonshine operations in Oshkosh. When the police busted this place on January 17, 1927, they discovered a “huge” still and more than 100 gallons of moonshine. Van Brocklin got four months of labor at the Winnebago County Workhouse. After that, he moved to Detroit. The brewery is gone, too. But the old booze house is still standing...
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| A recent photo of 1650 Doty Street. |
Love these tidbits of Oshkonian history.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee!