The Highland County Historical Society will honor the 150th anniversary of the Women’s Christian Temperance March that took place Dec. 24 and 26, 1873, in Hillsboro by hosting representatives of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) from Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky on Thursday, Nov. 9.

“The purpose of the march was to ask all pharmacists, hotel owners and saloon keepers to sign a document agreeing to no longer sell liquor in their establishments. The group stopped at many places of business and sang and prayed,” the historical society said in a news release. “The ladies were successful in having some of the merchants sign the agreement and a few went out of business. As a result of their success, the WCTU named Hillsboro “The Cradle of the Crusade Movement”.

The WCTU members will tour the Highland House Museum, lay a wreath at the grave of “Mother” Eliza Jane Thompson, attend a service at the First Presbyterian Church of Hillsboro, and re-enact the walk made by the temperance marchers in 1873.

The service is at 1 p.m. and is open to the public.

Thompson, who led the Hillsboro march in 1873, was the daughter of Ohio Gov. Allen Trimble. She was inspired by a speech by Dr. Dio Lewis, who suggested that the town’s women protest against the town’s saloons and pray for the bars to close.

The march was pivotal in the events leading to the ratification of the 18th Amendment on Jan. 16, 1919, that banned alcohol consumption in the United States. More than 100 other towns in Ohio began to have their own marches to stop alcohol consumption, and Thompson became known as the mother of the temperance movement.

Hillsboro and other towns became involved in the WCTU, which was organized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to limit or outlaw alcohol consumption.

The organization believed that many citizens were living in an immoral manner, and feared that God would no longer bless the United States. They also felt that alcohol was a threat to America’s political system.

The largest organization to advocate for temperance was the American Temperance Society. By the mid 1830s, it had 200,000 members. A statewide effort in Ohio didn’t happen until the 1850s. On Jan. 13, 1853, the Women’s Temperance Convention was held. The participants drafted a constitution and created the Ohio Women’s Temperance Society.

During the Civil War, the temperance movement weakened, but it quickly returned after the war.

In 1881, the WCTU lobbied to legally mandate schools to teach temperance instruction. “Scientific Temperance” was taught in public and military schools and all federal territories.

The WCTU to date has approximately 5,000 members who are dedicated to educating young people about the effects of alcohol, illegal drugs and tobacco.

Thompson is known as a national and local leader of the temperance movement. She died Nov. 3, 1905, and is buried in the Hillsboro Cemetery.

Debbie Williams of the Highland County Historical Society contributed to this story.