The Story of our Health Message

The Red Ribbon Clubs

About two years later a brilliant physician and surgeon, Dr. Reynolds, of Bangor, Maine, had become caught in the toils of strong drink. He tried in vain several times to break off the habit. While attending a prayer meeting one night he sought and received divine power to overcome, and at once tried to help others like himself. He, too, organized a “Reform Club,” on September 10, 1874, and its membership grew rapidly. SHM 223.3

Believing that he was called of God to engage in this work, Dr. Reynolds gave up the practice of his profession and entered the lecture field. Within a year, in Maine alone, he led out in organizing no less than 45,000 reformed drinkers into local Reform Clubs. He carried the campaign into other states, including Michigan. The badge of this movement was a red ribbon, and the clubs became known as the “Red Ribbon Reform Clubs.” Hundreds of thousands of drinkers were led by these and other earnest workers to sign the pledge. (August F. Fehlandt, A Century of Drink Reform in the United States, 230-235. New York: Eaton and Mains, 1904.) SHM 224.1