Carrie Nation is Bested by Port Arthur tavern owner
My apologies for not so nice a photo but it’s more than a challenge to shoot through a display window at an angle with lighting not designed for photography—
However, on with the story as it is difficult to read the printed signage here.
Port Arthur in pre-prohibition days boasted many more taverns than churches and as such it was ripe fodder for Carrie Nation. She appeared with her axe and proceeded to a tavern she heard was the biggest and worst offender of the group. The owner of the tavern did not think he should close his tavern on the advice of Carrie and put up such a fight that she was so impressed she gave him this little axe pin as a memento. The tavern didn’t close and Carrie decided other areas were much more susceptible to her ambition.
This is in the Museum of Southeast Texas in Port Arthur Texas in what is mostly a very deserted downtown area. Many buildings are boarded up as the oil refinery business which depended upon multitudes of workers is now much more automated. There are huge parking lots with weeds growing in the cracks that used to be packed full of the cars and trucks of the workers.
The museum does have a lot of interesting things–memorabilia from Janis Joplin who grew up here, Karen Silkwood–ditto–a lot of football players and other sports and coaches—-and musicians. And then there is Rauschenberg who has an entire room devoted to his posters–quite nice many of them.
There was also a display of animal paintings–I was disapointed in their quality–the contest for the under 6 and up to 12 year old pieces were much more imaginative and full of life than the somewhat professionally done pieces.
Here are a few more photos of the day
Sylvia Weir Art 