One For The Road: Today Is "Prohibition Day" In Illinois

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 10, 2012 10:40PM

A 1921 image of a small group of men dumping wine from barrels into a hole in the ground during prohibition in a warehouse in Chicago. Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

On this date in 1933, Illinois and Iowa became the 10th and 11th states to ratify the 21st Amendment repealing prohibition.

It wasn't until December 5, 1933 that a third of U.S. states had ratified the amendment to officially end prohibition. On that day, the Tribune says, "The Congress Hotel emptied 100 cases of champagne, 75 cases of whiskey, 75 cases of gin and 100 cases of wine."

Let's celebrate today anyway. Watch footage on prohibition and its repeal below in these old newsreels.