A communication was received from J.C.Smock stating his reasons for signing a liquor license in the town of Sherwood, and that if it was inconsistent with the discipline of the Church he asked to be released from membership— his resignation was accepted.
Middleton Friends Church Minutes, May 25, 1895

This site has featured a saloon ever since Sherwood was incorporated in 1893. In 1896, an interesting experiment was tried. The saloon was closed by the Town Recorder based "...upon the information made by Mrs. Anna Reisner [wife of Sherwood's first Mayor, C. George Reisner] that she believed if said Saloon was not closed that her life was in danger." Of course, as soon as the Town Recorder closed the saloon down, the Town Council had to open it back up again. The saloon license fee was the Town's main source of income. Sherwood's predicament was not unique. According to Lingeman,

For years, town politics were a battlefield between the 'reform' forces seeking to clean up vice and the politicians who drew considerable, if discreet, financial support from saloon owners— not to mention the town businessmen, who believed saloons stimulated spending. In one lumber boomtown, a reformist police chief who attempted to clean up the town was opposed by local businessmen. As one said, 'What's the difference if a logger comes in and spends $50 in a dive? Doesn't the money finally get into circulation in more respectable places?' As a sop to the forces of temperance, saloon license fees were often earmarked for schools.