It’s hard to believe this quite narrow street lined with antique stores and gift shops was once known for its alcohol-fueled brawls. In the late 1800s, lumberjacks would take the train into Holly and spend their hard earned money at the saloons on this downtown street. On many occasions, a fight in one of the bars broke out and spilled out onto the street. A large fight between some local men and a traveling circus in 1885 gave the street previously known as Martha Street, it’s now infamous moniker of Battle Alley. In 1908, boisterous and outspoken national temperance leader Carry Nation gave a speech in the alley on the prohibition of alcohol. Afterward, she went through the saloons bellowing about the “Demon Rum” and its sins. The old street has changed a lot from the days of lumberjacks and saloons, but there is a historical marker on one of the buildings reminding visitors of it’s rough and rowdy past.
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