Carry A. Nation - Kiowa, KS
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 01.008 W 098° 29.205
14S E 545657 N 4096859
Site of Carrie Nation, and friends, first assault upon the demon rum and its friends. She never used the "hatchet" until her visit to Wichita.
Waymark Code: WMNGRY
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2015
Views: 4
County of Marker: Barber County
Location of Marker: 6th St. & Main St., Kiowa
Marker Erected by: City of Kiowa
Plaque text:
In Memory of
CARRY A. NATION
Who began her saloon
Smashing Crusade in Kiowa
JUNE 1 1900
The Horseshoe Saloon was the first she attacked. Since it was an "Illegal" bar, no charges were filed against Ms. Nation. She did NOT use an ax, or hatchet. She used full whiskey bottles, bricks and pool balls. Through the front window and at any patron dumb enough to get within range.
Kansas Historical Society and Kansas Highway Department marker in town:
Carry A. Nation, the militant crusader against illegal saloons, launched her career of saloon-smashing in Kiowa. She and her followers in Medicine Lodge, her hometown, had closed the local saloons by holding prayer meetings on their premises and displays of force. However, as the Women's Christian Temperance Union's jail evangelist, she found as many drunks as ever in the county jail. These men named Kiowa as their source of supply. A voice spoke to Carry, telling her to go to Kiowa and smash the saloons. On June 1, 1900, she attacked three "joints" in Kiowa, using stones, brickbats, full malt bottles, and one billiard ball as ammunition. Carry's attack surprised local officials, but because of the fact that the operation of such "joints" was illegal she was not jailed as she would be later in other communities. She did not adopt the use of her now famous hatchet until her visit to Wichita some six months later.
The Kiowa attack quickly received national attention and instigated great debate even among the temperance organizations. Carry Nation spent the remainder of her life in the crusade against the liquor interests and lecturing on prohibition. She died June 9, 1911.