Ole Hagen, a carpenter by trade, dressed as a bottle of Hamm's beer for this photograph taken at the studio of S. P. Wange in Hawley, Minnesota. The year 1898 is written on his label, surrounded by calendar pages for every month of the year, suggesting this might be a costume for a New Year's party. Theodore Hamm's Brewing Company in Saint Paul was Minnesota's largest brewery at that time, and they sold a whole lot of beer in Clay County. In 1890, North Dakota outlawed the sale of alcohol, so North Dakotans just crossed the Red River into Minnesota for a drink. The most infamous border booze town was Moorhead, Minnesota, located directly across the river from Fargo, North Dakota, and about 20 miles west of Ole Hagen's home in Hawley. From 1890 until Prohibition, selling alcohol was Moorhead's #1 industry. In 1900, Moorhead was a town of 3,730 with 47 saloons and a brewery.
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