ChiTown Beer

Don’t have enough beer-inspired riots in your life? The German and Irish immigrants to Chicago in the mid-1850’s had it better.

On this day in 1855, Know-Nothing Mayor Levi Boone assembled the police to repel a mob of North Side Germans and Irish protesting the trial of local tavernkeepers who were arrested for selling beer without a license. Boone had raised the cost of a liquor license to $300 (about $6,700 in 2009 dollars), with renewal fees every three months,  in an attempt to shut down the immigrant’s watering holes.

Nine of the crowd’s participants were arrested as the police tried  to clear the courthouse area. The crowd got angry, and tried to save their comrades, but it was not to be. As the Encyclopedia of Chicago tells us:

An armed group from the North Side German community decided to rescue the prisoners, but Boone held them off by keeping the Clark Street drawbridge raised until he was able to assemble more than two hundred policemen. When the bridge was lowered and North Siders surged across, shooting began. Boone called in the militia, and the riot ended in minutes.

One man died and 60 more were arrested. This riot, while brief, is remembered today as the Lager Beer Riot.

Ultimately, the immigrants were able to put their beers down long enough to get the Know-Nothings voted out of office in 1856. But today, as you enjoy your favorite brew, remember the men and women who rioted to keep Chicago suds flowing.