Vintage Photos of Prohibition in Boston

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933. (Wikipedia)

Rum Chasers: Beagle and Cunningham – Jan. 23, 1927

Ice Covered Rum Chaser – Jan. 20, 1926

Superintendent Crowley Inspects a Speakeasy – 1930

Commissioner and Superintendent at Police HQ – 1935

Aerial View of Rum Runners – c. 1917-1934

Aerial Photo of a Seized Rum Runner – c. 1917-1934

Newer Fleet of Rum Chasers: General Green & Frederick Lee – 1928

Fleet of Rum Chasers in East Boston – Dec. 30, 1928

Coast Guard Seizes a Rum Runner – c. 1917-1934

Fleet of Rum Chasers in East Boston – c. 1917-1934

$175,000 in Liquor Seized by Coast Guard – Jan. 18, 1932

Captured Rum Runner Brought to the Appraiser’s Stores – c. 1917-1934

Still Raided and Destroyed at Woburn by Federal Agents – 1934

Man Operates Still out of the Back of a Carriage – c. 1917-1934

Still Explosion Kills Man in Reading – 1930

Boat Suspected of Selling Alcohol is Inspected – c. 1917-1934

Casks Seized by Police – c. 1930

Boston Police Liquor Squad – 1928

Officers Dismantle a Speakeasy After Raid – c. 1917-1934

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