(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Half a century before Prohibition and Al Capone, thousands of immigrants living in Chicago fought with police on this day in 1855 in what came to be known as the Lager Beer Riot.
Richard Lindberg, a local historian and author, says the clash of cultures was the nascent city’s first significant riot.
German and Irish residents were outraged when newly elected Mayor Levi Boone and members of his Know Nothing Party raised the cost of a liquor license from $50 to $300 and attempted to close German-owned saloons serving alcohol on Sundays.
The immigrants on April 21 marched down to the courthouse at Clark and Randolph to protest, armed with guns and homemade weapons ranging from primitive guns and meat cleavers.
Fighting between the armed protesters and police left one officer dead.
Afterward, the fee was repealed and the anti-immigrant Boone did not run for re-election.
Lindberg says the riot kicked off another 70 years of debate over temperance and reflected the type of anti-immigrant sentiment that is still felt today.
“It’s just a variation of a very old story,” Lindberg said.
He wrote a book about the riot called "To Serve and Collect" and is writing another that discusses more of Chicago's history with liquor and vice districts that's slated for release next year.
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