Ed. note: This is a brief excerpt from a much longer article about liquor licensing in post-Prohibition Wyoming. This piece focuses on a racial issue that arose during the period. The longer article first appeared in Wyoming Law Review 12 (2012), pp. 389-451. Portions of the longer article are included in a forthcoming book by Phil Roberts on the history of Prohibition in Wyoming.
Requests from tourist towns for additional licenses became more numerous as summer approached. The town clerk of Jackson, a man named Bark, requested special consideration for that resort town because “the Town of Jackson has a population of several hundred more people than shown by the last Federal census.”[1] The Commission agreed with the rationale and granted Jackson another license.[2]
In late July, Worland’s remaining license was awarded to C.L. Howell, the only other applicant.[3] Within weeks of awarding that additional license, officials from Worland requested an even more unusual exception. Two months prior to asking for another license, the Worland Town Council received a petition presented to it by J. W. Bird and others. The petitioners requested “the Town Council to apply to the Wyoming Liquor Commission for an additional Retail Liquor License, to be issued to Josefa Rivera.”[4] Another petition, presented by H. B. Van Buskirk, asked that a similar license be issued to Y. Fonceca.[5] After discussing the two requests, the council passed a resolution:
Whereas, it has come to the attention of the Town Council that because a large portion of the population of the Town of Worland, and vicinity, is made up of Spanish speaking people who are employed in beet fields adjacent to Worland, and whereas it is for the best interest of the community that a Retail Liquor Store be established in the Spanish Quarter of the city, where Spanish-speaking people could obtain liquor without mingling with the other races, therefore be it resolved by the Town Council of the Town of Worland that an application be made to the Wyoming Liquor Commission for permission to issue one additional retail liquor license.[6]
The Worland officials, in August 1935, told the Commission that it was unaware of any protest from earlier licensees, an issue that existed when the Commission met in Worland four months earlier. Consistent with its policy, the Commission filed notice that it would hold a hearing in September at which point “[a]ny person desiring to protest the allowance of such application for an additional license should file their protest in writing by the ninth day of September, 1935.”[7] The official minutes for the September 18, 1935, meeting, tersely summarized the issue and the outcome:
There was for consideration before the Board, the application of the Town of Worland for an additional liquor license that a liquor store might be opened for Spanish speaking or Mexican people. There was present, to represent the application of the Town of Worland, Alec B. King and Dan Egan, attorneys of Casper, Wyoming. The facts as represented to the Board were that the permanent Mexican population at Worland is four hundred, and during the beet season, reaches one thousand. The Mexicans are barred from the retail liquor stores now operating in Worland, and it further appears that the licensees in Worland had no objection to an additional license and the authority for issuing an additional license was therefore granted.[8]
The Worland council apparently did not immediately issue the new license to either of the two applicants. Finally, on November 4, 1936, more than a year after the council’s formal request for the special license, one of the new ear-marked retail licenses was issued to Josefa Rivera.[9] The record does not indicate why Rivera’s request was delayed for such a long time nor is there any hint as to why Rivera was awarded the license when another person, Dionicio Cantu, had filed a similar application and was denied.[10]
The issuance of Rivera’s license did not end the controversy surrounding Worland’s “special license” for the “Spanish Quarter.” When Mrs. Rivera sought to renew her license the following November, a local man, C. A. Brant and others protested its reissuance. The protesters claimed Rivera was violating the town ordinance and state liquor laws by serving food in the same room as she was dispensing alcohol. The town council voted to deny her license renewal.[11]
By 1936, liquor commission deliberations focused on renewals, as well as additional requests from cities and counties for more licenses.[12] The Commission also issued licenses for Union Pacific passenger trains, crossing through the state.[13] Much of the Commission’s business was by now routine—renewals of annual licenses to wholesalers and pharmacists and occasional requests from agency staff to revoke licenses of violators of Commission rules.[14]
[1] Board Minutes, Wyo. Liquor Comm’n (May 22, 1935) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives).
[2] Id.
[3] See Advertisement, Announcing the Opening of the Heidelberg Bar, Worland Grit, Aug. 1, 1935, at 5.
[4] Town Council Minutes, Worland, Wyo. (Aug. 7, 1935) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives).
[5] Id. The record contains several contradictions. For instance, a special meeting on April 17 appears already to have granted a license to Fonceca. Just two weeks later, his name appears owing $24.02 in back taxes. The property is listed as Lot 11, Block 8, Pulliam Addition (west of the railroad tracks from downtown Worland and two blocks south). Notice of Sale of Real Property for Delinquent Taxes, Worland Grit, Aug. 22, 1935, at 6. Later, when Rivera’s application finally came before the council, Fonceca was no longer an applicant, but Dionisio Cantu had applied for the license. Town Council Minutes, Worland, Wyo. (Nov. 4, 1936) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives).
[6] Worland, Wyo., Ordinances, Book no. 3, at 332 (Aug. 7, 1935).
[7] Notice, Worland Grit, Aug. 22, 1935, at 9.
[8] Board Minutes, Wyo. Liquor Comm’n (Sept. 18, 1935) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives).
[9] The Rivera application, dated October 4, 1937, was for lot 13, Block 11, Pulliam Addition, a location between Grace and Obie Sue, bounded on the east by the railroad tracks and the west by Vesta street and the city limits, i.e., across the railroad tracks west from the main downtown. Notice of Application for Retail Liquor License, Worland Grit, Oct. 21, 1937, at 9.
[10] Town Council Minutes, Worland, Wyo. (Nov. 4, 1936) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives).
[11] Town Council Minutes, Worland, Wyo. (Nov. 3, 1937) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives) (“The application of Josefa Rivera for a retail liquor license was then present [sic] for consideration and a protest having been filed by C. A. Brant and others and the council having heard said applicant and said protestants and being fully advised in the premises it was moved by Councilman Rhodes that the application of Josefa Rivera for a retail liquor license be denied. Motion was seconded by Councilman Chenoweth, and the Motion was carried.”). The record is unclear as to what happened to the license, but it was not awarded to another individual doing business in the “Spanish Quarter.”
[12] See, e.g., Board Minutes, Wyo. Liquor Comm’n (Apr. 2, 1936) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives) (“Authority was granted to the City of Rock Springs to issue seven retail liquor licenses in addition to the statutory number.”).
[13] Board Minutes, Wyo. Liquor Comm’n (Mar. 17, 1936) (on file with the Wyoming State Archives) (“Licenses were granted to Union Pacific trains as follows: Nos. 1, 2, 7, 8, 17, 18, 27, 28, 14, 21, 118, 127, 121, and 114, at $50.00 each.”).
[14] Apparently, the commissioners met only for scheduled meetings. The special meetings reported in the minutes regularly during 1935, were not held in 1936. Further, tensions among the commissioners were apparent by mid-summer 1936, even though all three members were Democrats. Baldwin gained the ire of fellow Democrat Miller when he filed for the U. S. Senate nomination in 1936. Miller, who favored the nomination of H. H. Schwartz, the “machine party” candidate, opened an investigation of Baldwin’s office during the week before the primary, alleging that Baldwin was using state funds to further his campaign. Miller claimed there were requests for an investigation of how Baldwin’s office handled the workmen’s compensation fund. “The so-called investigation by Gov. Miller is merely a political move at the last hour to stop my nomination,” Baldwin replied. After defending the work of his agency, Baldwin added, “Reports reached me in Evanston Friday that Governor Miller was there about ten days ago urging my defeat and citizens were asked to support John D. Clark. The entire move on Gov. Miller’s part is a political effort to beat me in this campaign.” The newspaper article noted that the “stop Baldwin” movement “ha[d] become the outstanding feature of the Democratic primary campaign.” Governor Orders Probe of Funds, Torrington Telegram, Aug. 13, 1936, at 1. Baldwin finished third in the primary that was won by Schwartz. Clark finished second with 6931 votes to Baldwin’s 6508. Carey-Barrett Win Nomination, Torrington Telegram, Aug. 20, 1936, at 1.