Events

1913 Carpentersville Local Option Election

On Tuesday, July 22, 1913, the village of Carpentersville, Illinois — situated approximately six miles north of Elgin — held a local option election on the question of prohibition. The "dry" (prohibitionist) faction prevailed by a vote of 172 to 155, marking the most decisive victory for temperance advocates across four local option contests held in the village. The election drew particular note for the significant participation of women voters, who reportedly turned out in numbers sufficient to influence the outcome. (Source: east-st-louis-daily-journal-1913-07-23)

Scanned newspaper page from Image 8 of The American issue (Westerville, Ohio), March 20, 1914, 1914-03-20 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America)
Scanned newspaper page from Image 8 of The American issue (Westerville, Ohio), March 20, 1914, 1914-03-20 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America) | Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America
Scanned newspaper page from Image 4 of The American issue (Westerville, Ohio), August 1, 1913, 1913-08-01 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America)
Scanned newspaper page from Image 4 of The American issue (Westerville, Ohio), August 1, 1913, 1913-08-01 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America) | Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America
Scanned newspaper page from Image 7 of East St. Louis daily journal (East St. Louis, Ill.), July 23, 1913, 1913-07-23 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America)
Scanned newspaper page from Image 7 of East St. Louis daily journal (East St. Louis, Ill.), July 23, 1913, 1913-07-23 (Library of Congress, Chronicling America) | Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America

Date & Context

  • Date of election: Tuesday, July 22, 1913
  • Location: Carpentersville, Illinois (manufacturing city in Kane County, approximately six miles north of Elgin) (Source: american-issue-1913-08-01)
  • Question at issue: Local option on the sale of alcohol (prohibition vs. licensed sale)
  • Final vote: Dry 172, Wet 155
This election was the fourth local option test held in Carpentersville. According to contemporary reporting, the two immediately preceding local option elections had each been decided by a margin of only a single vote in favor of the dry side, making the 1913 margin of seventeen votes notably wider by comparison. (Source: east-st-louis-daily-journal-1913-07-23) The March 20, 1914 issue of The American Issue likewise referenced the Carpentersville contest in the context of the previous one-vote dry majority, citing the election as evidence of women's electoral impact on the saloon question following the enactment of woman suffrage in Illinois. (Source: american-issue-1914-03-20)

The election took place during the Progressive Era, a period across Illinois and the broader Midwest characterized by temperance activism, civic reform movements, and expanding political participation by women — including, in some jurisdictions, the right to vote in certain local elections. The American Issue, a national temperance newspaper edited by Ernest H. Cherrington and published out of Westerville, Ohio, covered the Carpentersville vote in its August 1, 1913 issue alongside other Illinois local option results, indicating the election was of interest beyond the immediate region. The Illinois edition of that paper was co-edited by F. Scott McBride and Sam Fickle. (Source: american-issue-1913-08-01)

The same day — July 22, 1913 — the city of Benton in Franklin County, Illinois, also held a vote on the saloon license question. The American Issue reported that in Benton, 419 women voted dry and only 14 voted wet, offering a striking regional parallel to the women's voting patterns observed in Carpentersville. Both elections were among the first opportunities for newly-enfranchised women in their respective communities to vote on the saloon question. (Source: american-issue-1913-08-01) The March 1914 issue of The American Issue revisited the Benton results in similar terms, noting that dry voters prevailed there by a margin of 526 votes, with 408 women voting dry and only 14 voting wet — figures broadly consistent with earlier reporting, though the precise totals vary slightly between the two issues. (Source: american-issue-1914-03-20)

Woman suffrage had been enacted into law in Illinois by September 1913, providing the legal framework within which women's participation in these local option elections took place. The liquor interests in Illinois, according to the March 1914 American Issue, had significant financial stakes in the outcome of such elections — the liquor business in the state reportedly involved several hundred million dollars in capital — and the article discussed fears among those interests that women voters would vote to prohibit saloons. A writer identified only as "Windle," who had published views critical of woman suffrage in The Iconoclast in September 1913, was cited in that same issue in connection with this broader debate. (Source: american-issue-1914-03-20)

Participants

Women Voters

One of the most remarked-upon features of the election was the scale