100 years ago in Spokane: Prohibition drives Inland Brewing and Malting Co. to vinegar production

From our archive, 100 years ago

The stockholders of the Inland Brewing and Malting Company accepted defeat at the hands of Prohibition.

They voted to drop “Brewing and Malting” from their name and turn their brewery into a vinegar factory.

The new Inland Products Company also leased 200 feet of track on the Northern Pacific line along the brewery property, which extended from Cedar Street to Walnut Street. They planned to build facilities for unloading cars for the new vinegar operation.

From the war beat: Prominent society women held a benefit for French children orphaned by the war in Europe.

The women stood in Spokane marketplaces and sold postcards and medals “with the aplomb of barkers at county fairs.”

“The returns were most generous,” said the paper.

The sales clerks at the Crescent department store contributed a particularly generous amount.

“So over in France there will be one happy child that will be the ward of the Crescent,” said the paper.

The event also provided some insight into the divided opinions about the European war.

“One woman declined to buy a card because she was a German sympathizer, and when asked if she had contributed anything to the care of German children, she tossed her head and declined to be interviewed.”