Cass Gilbert Carriage Barn will be a speakeasy on Thursday

With passage in early 1919 of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, Prohibition came early in 1920, barring the making, moving, storage and sale of liquor across America—including Ridgefield, where renowned architect Cass Gilbert owned the Cannonball House, now Keeler Tavern Museum.

Was the Cannonball House, a tavern for much of the previous 150 years, a speakeasy in the 1920s, a place accessed by whispered password so one could partake of illicit liquor? No one knows for sure, but on Thursday, October 2, from 7-9 p.m. the Museum will turn the Cass Gilbert Carriage Barn into a speakeasy as part of its support for the Ridgefield Library and Ridgefield Playhouse’s community-wide reading initiative of The Great Gatsby under the auspices of The Big Read.

Records at the New-York Historical Society show that Cass Gilbert, who with his wife Julia Finch Gilbert often entertained large numbers of distinguished guests in their Garden House, was prepared for the dry spell. Mr. Gilbert purchased nearly 600 bottles of spirits of various kinds in February 1919, just after the Amendment’s ratification but well before its restrictions took effect in January 1920.

The Museum’s Speakeasy acknowledges Mr. Gilbert’s law-abiding but obviously reluctant observance of Prohibition with this event. While there is no fee for admission, a password and photo ID will be required to gain access to the Roaring Twenties-decorated building and its cash bar. The password is the name of the rum listed as the last item on Mr. Gilbert’s receipt (see photo).

More information about the Cass Gilbert Carriage Barn Speakeasy may be found at keelertavernmuseum.org and on Keeler Tavern Museum’s Facebook page, where the password will be published in the week leading up to Thursday, October 2. The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

The Keeler Tavern Museum, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, presents three centuries of the town’s history through the lives of the families that occupied the site starting in 1713. It offers docent-led tours of its period-furnished building on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons, February through December. Its Cass Gilbert-designed garden is open to the public year ‘round, except during private events.

The photograph (excerpt from Cass Gilbert’s receipt for a large supply of liquor that the architect purchased) is courtesy of New-York Historical Society.