Presentation on Prohibition and Civilian Conservation Corps taking place at Meehan Memorial Library

Prohibition and Civilian Conservation Corps in Northeast Iowa will be the next subject  for the monthly Sesquicentennial program at Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library. The program will be presented by author Linda Betzinger McCann Tuesday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  A soup supper will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a donation jar available for free-will donations. McCann will be talking about two books she has authored, "Prohibition in Eastern Iowa" and "Civilian Conservation Corp in Northeast Iowa."

Prohibition was the 13-year period when it was illegal to manufacture, sell or transport any sort of liquor in the U.S. So, why did residents choose to break the law? According to McCann, Al Capone did business in Iowa and there were murders in Iowa over liquor. Whatever went on nationwide seemed to happen in Iowa also.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a federal program during the Depression years to help young men find work to support their families, as well as to help renew natural resources. Most people know about the State Park work, but in Iowa over 75 percent of the CCC camps were soil erosion camps, where they worked in erosion, drainage and forestry. Palisades and Backbone State Parks had much work done in them. There were also camps at McGregor, the Strawberry Point area and Cresco.

The next program subject is Reenacting Captain Andrew Talcott (1797-1883) in full dress uniform, including discussion of the survey of the Iowa-Minnesota border in 1852. That program date is Thursday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m. Reenactor Don Borcherding is a research analyst and his presentations are on Original Public Land Survey History in Minnesota and Iowa. He has also conducted presentations on early military expeditions beginning with Lewis & Clark, Zebulon Pike, Stephen H. Long, Lewis Cass and others.