Neal Dow Memorial

714 Congress Street

The former home of nineteenth-century temperance leader Neal Dow (1804-1897) is the Portland headquarters of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). It is open to the public. Although their Maine membership has declined, the WCTU carries on its mission of educating the public, especially school children, about the dangers of alcohol and drug use. Neal Dow authored Maine law in 1851 that banned the use of alcohol, except for medicinal purposes, in Maine. It was repealed in 1855. For related sites, see the Little Water Girl statue (site C12), honoring Lillian Ames Stevens, the first president of WCTU Maine, and Mrs. Stevens’s home and gravesite in Stroudwater (site SD05 and site SD03, respectively).

Prohibitionists