Discovery Sites
How to get there: The museum is located at 163 9th Avenue in Granite Falls.
What you will find: A house museum
Services at this site: Restroom, handicap accessible
The Andrew J. Volstead Home is a National Historic Landmark, designated for Congressman Volstead in the co-authoring of the Capper Volstead Cooperatives Act and authoring of the Prohibition Enforcement Act or Volstead Act.
What the 18th Amendment did was to ban “the manufacture, sale, or distribution of intoxicating liquors.” It went into effect July 1, 1920. The Volstead Act — also known as the National Prohibition Act — was enacted in October, 1919 to provide for enforcement mechanisms. It gave federal authorities the power to prosecute violations.
The Volsteads moved to Granite Falls, in Yellow Medicine County, Minn., in 1886. Andrew Volstead served as the county’s prosecuting attorney, and as mayor of Granite Falls and city attorney of Granite Falls.
He was elected to Congress as a Republican from 1903 to 1923. Before leaving Congress, he spearheaded passage of legislation called the Capper-Volstead Act — which is still in effect — enabled farmers to form local cooperatives without fear of prosecution under the Sherman Antitrust Act..”
The loss of his congressional seat in 1922 was apparently more tied to low farm prices — resulting in rejection of numerous incumbents by voters that year — than to the Volstead Act.
He returned to Granite Falls in 1933, remaining active as a lawyer until the age of 83.
Things to Do: Discovery Site, Museum
