Women’s Christian Temperance Union, WCTU, Stoughton   

Good Bye Saloons!  Stoughton Repudiates the Saloon Business Most Emphatically, Stoughton Courier Hub, April 4th, 1890 

“Tis done.  The suspense is over.  Stoughton has declared for no-license and in no uncertain tone.  The result of Tuesday’s election is a surprise.  From the first the no-license people have felt confident of success, but even the most sanguine prohibition advocate did not anticipate such an overwhelming victory.  It has been a fair fight, and every good citizen should abide the result without a murmur.  Excitement ran high after the vote was announced.  The church bells clanged, the band was gotten out, members of the W. C. T. U. and the Y. M. C. A. assembled in their room and celebrated the victory in gladsome song, and great was the rejoicing.”

Excerpt from Stoughton Courier Hub, April 4th, 1890

Annie Warren 1858-1935

Annie Warren and local W.C.T.U. history 

“Stoughton’s W. C. T. U. was organized in 1884 when Amy Kellogg of Ft. Atkinson spoke to a group of women gathered here in Old William’s Hall.  Annie Wyman Warren was one of fifteen women who remained after the lecture to become one of the charter members of the local Stoughton organization.”

“She served one year as president of the chapter from 1886 to 1887 and in 1905 she was again elected local president which office she held until 1919.” 

She was president of both the Dane County and the Wisconsin WCTU and was constantly asked to speak to groups all around the state.  She died on September 29, 1935 at the age of 77.  

Annie went to Whitewater Academy to become a teacher then came to Stoughton to teach first grade in the old Central Grade School and started her 21 year career teaching in Stoughton’s public schools.  She married Edgar Warren who had grown up in Stoughton and they had two children, Ruby and Wyman.  

For many years Annie was the head of the primary department at the First Baptist Church on the corner of Page and Main (later becoming the site of First Federal and later the Senior Center) and from 1897 to 1915 she served as Superintendent of the Sunday School. She was most well known for her work in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. 

To read more on Stoughton's Women's Christian Temperance Union click here.

Resources:
Wisconsin State Journal, September 30, 1935
Stoughton Courier Hub, September 30,1935