1873 Woman's Crusades. Early WCTU. Frances Willard. Willard House. National Presidents of the WCTU.

The History of the WCTU
(Time line available in the News section)

In many towns in Ohio and New York in the fall of 1873 women concerned about the destructive power of alcohol met in churches to pray and then marched to the saloons to ask the owners to close their establishments. They met with success but it was only temporary so by the next summer the women concluded that they must become organized nationally. This led to the founding of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union - the oldest continuing non-sectarian woman's organization in the world.