In 1893, Parnell Man Drank Himself to Death

The editor of the Sheridan Advance in the February 3rd, 1893 issue had this to say about a dead man found near Parnell: “The dead man found near Parnell City one morning last week, upon investigation, was found to be under the influence of that mighty curse, King Alcohol. Surely, someone will someday have to render an account for the many crimes committed by the same curse. Whether it will be the manufacturer or the legislator, who will have it in their power to extinguish the damnable curse from the land, the people who consent to have it dealt out publicly by signing a saloon petition, or the one who hands it out over the bar to anyone who calls for it.” He possibly did himself out of some advertising and some subscriptions with his rant.

But attitudes have changed over the years since the epic fight between the “wets” and the “drys” that cumulated with the passage of Prohibition. By 1976, when Grant City and Sheridan combined schools, everyone knew who the Sheridan kids were, because they all wore cowboy boots.

In 2023, the Snakebite Tavern closed, leaving the town without a tavern for the first time since the days of Prohibition. Between then and the opening of the Back 40, one of the most common refrains we heard from people all over the area was, “When is Sheridan ever going to get a tavern?”

When the Back 40 opened this year, there were massive crowds taking advantage of it during Defiance Days. On Saturday night, following the Rodeo, it had one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever seen in town, with people coming from miles around to check out the new tavern. The only two times we have seen more people in Sheridan were last year, for the High Road concert, which drew several hundred, and the Jerry Clower performance during the Sheridan Centennial, which drew around 3,000. The traffic at the Back 40 has continued to be brisk in both the bar section and the restaurant section since Defiance Days ended.