St Catharines professor to give Zoom lecture on Prohibition

Remember when the Canada-US border was open? Brock University professor Dan Malleck does.

In fact, as part of the Niagara Falls Museums’ “Imbibe Lecture Series,” Malleck will talk about the history of cross-border drinking between Canadians and Americans.

His lecture, called “Crossing the Line: How, where and when to drink in Niagara after Prohibition,” will take place virtually on July 22 from 7 to 8 pm.

Malleck will explain how following the end of Prohibition in Ontario in 1927, Americans flocked to Niagara Falls (and Niagara Region) to drink.

The tables turned when Prohibition ended in the United States in 1933 and was replaced by a looser licensing regime than in Canada, causing Niagara residents to flood the American border for their booze.

Malleck, a Professor with the Department of Health Sciences and Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, will explore how Niagara responded to the changes.

Malleck is the second consecutive Brock University professor to address the “Imbibe Lecture Series.”

On July 8, Renée Salhany, an associate professor of history at Brock University, looked into the history that rum played in our society.

In her lecture, she explained that by the 18th century, rum was not only considered indispensable for Christmas parties, evening routs, and pirate ships, it was a commodity that greased the wheels of Britain’s empire and fueled the rebels who sought to destroy it in 1776.

Preregistration is required for Malleck’s lecture and can be completed by visiting the museums’ website.

(Photo courtesy of Brock University)