October 19 in A.A. History

1948: Paul H. [left, 1956], a practicing attorney and Rhodes Scholar, wrote to Bill W. [right, 1955], asking him to confirm the details of a story Bill had recounted, which Paul had documented in a memo dated October 12, titled “BILL’S STORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE ‘TWELVE STEPS.’”

On 31 January, Paul and Eileen B.^* had accompanied Bill and his wife, Lois, on a train ride from New York City to Washington, DC [right: the B&O Railroad's Marylander, which ran between New York City and Washington DC from 1890s–mid 1950, image from early 1940s]. The following night, Bill, Lois, and Paul had attended an A.A. banquet where Paul had spoken about the late Fitz M. [left]. During the train ride, Bill shared a verbal account of his writing of the Twelve Steps. In his letter, Paul reminded Bill,

I said that this was the first time I had ever heard the story and that I believe it was of sufficient importance to commit to writing. I am still of that opinion.

Paul enclosed two copies of the memo, stating that if it “needs amplification or clarification, please let me know.” If not, he asked Bill to initial one copy and return it. Paul concluded his letter by saying,

As soon as we reached Washington… I dictated my version of Bill’s story to Eileen B―― who agreed with my version as outlined. This memorandum has been compiled from the original draft, which is now before me, and also from a subsequent conversation with Bill.

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^*Ms. B. may have been Paul’s secretary, as he “dictated” the story to her; little else is known about her, although she does seem to have been well-known in A.A. circles.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1944: Father Richard “Dick” James Francis Murphy invited three non-alcoholics to help him establish a better way of life for suffering alcoholics by starting Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia. The three were Dr. Sylvester John Minogue [right], who would later become a member of A.A. and who had been in contact for two years with Margaret “Bobbie” B. [left], the second National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City; Father Thomas “Tom” Vincent Dunlea [right], parish priest of Sutherland, New South Wales, and founder of Boys’ Town; and Archie V. McKinnon [left], a nurse at a Sydney mental hospital with “advanced” knowledge of alcoholics and alcoholism.

They set up a tent city in a national park, outside the jurisdiction of the local town council, near Boys’ Town in Engadine [right, c. 1940s], New South Wales. It was described as “a sort of a camping holiday, to keep them away from the Pub and keep them off the Grog.” This approach proved satisfactory at first. Father Dunlea tried to help the down-and-out alcoholics of Sutherland through preaching, concerts, and gifts of money and clothing. Every day, he…

would have a bottle of good wine which he shared out and it was not hogged. This kept down the desire to drink plonk [cheap or inferior everyday wine] and metho [methylated alcohol]. As far as the Alcos were concerned it was a terrific long holiday camp in a pleasant setting away from the slums of Sydney.…

One day while the Father was away someone brought some Metho along and gave it to them. It was either a very poor joke, or a deliberately [sic] an act of wickedness for they all got blithered [drunk] and caused trouble which involved the police having to go up and quell the trouble.

In the end, the attempt was an abject failure.

October 18 in A.A. History

1952: The Saturday Evening Post [left: cover] published an anonymous article titled “I’m a Nurse in an Alcoholic Ward” [right: first two pages]. The author was Theresa “Teddy” R., a nurse at Knickerbocker Hospital [below left, c. 1940; below right: ambulance at Knickerbocker entrance] in New York City. Dr. William Silkworth, a colleague, referred to her as a “red-headed powerhouse.” The teaser for the article read:

The author—a onetime alcoholic—has nursed 5,000 drunks through the fading hours of their most spectacular sprees. Here is what she has faced in salvaging doctors, lawyers, ministers, priests, housewives, and stenographers from drink and the devil.

At the end of her article, Teddy explained her motivation: 

After a month of daily increasing happiness I was struck with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was grateful to that lonely handful of men who formulated the AA principles of recovery and set them down; grateful to the thousands of alcoholics who, in the face of every conceivable difficulty and temptation, had picked up these tenets and doggedly clung to them, fighting to hang on to their sobriety so it could be passed on to me. I felt I must do something in return.

When I learned about the A.A. ward at Knickerbocker I knew what that something would have to be. I was a trained nurse. During all the years I had frittered away, that training had seemed meaningless. Now it made sense—I was meant to work in that ward. I bombarded the supervising nurse with telephone calls by day, and prayers to God at night, and three months later I got the job.

These five years have brought deep satisfactions. I can’t convey how much it means to see the transformation in people. They come to us physical, mental and moral wrecks. They leave encouraged but still uncertain. Then, months later, they come back–bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked, eager to help; job back, family back, going concerns again, ready to pass on, with dividends, what’s been given to them. To know that I had some small part in this rebirth is a blessing far beyond what I deserve. The failures, the lost ones? Well, they’re sad of course. However, we must accentuate the positive. But for the grace of God, all of us might have been lost.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1944: The Central Bulletin, a monthly newsletter for A.A. members near Cleveland, Ohio, reported [right: article] that a local Young People’s Group had been started this month. This is believed to be the first young people’s A.A. group anywhere.

1944: In Wichita, Kansas, near the center of the state, Sally E. wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City to request a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, for her husband, Sid. Around the same time, Otis P. from the Kansas City, Missouri group moved to Wichita and reached out to Sid, whose name he had obtained from the Foundation. Together, they started Wichita’s first permanent A.A. group, holding meetings in several hotels and an art studio in the Butts Building [left, c. 1930s].

1944: The A.A. Grapevine published an editorial titled “On Simplicity, of Faith, of Living, of Outlook,” [right] written by Earl T. of Chicago, Illinois. The editorial also includes information about the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), explaining, among other things, why Marty M., one of its co-founders, chose to break her anonymity.

October 17 in A.A. History

1935: Edwin “Ebby” T., the man Bill W. called his sponsor, moved in with Bill and his wife, Lois, at 182 Clinton Street [right: c. 1940, 2009] in Brooklyn.

1940: Toledo, Ohio’s first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at the home of Ruth Haviland T., located at 2222 River Rd. [left] in Maumee Township. The attendees included Ruth, Clinton “Duke” P., who led the meeting, Charlie “CJ” K., Walter C., Chet M., Bill W.^*, Pete B., Ed B., and Ernie G.^†, one of the first 100 members of A.A. All nine had previously traveled to Akron, Ohio, to learn firsthand about A.A.

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^*Not A.A.’s co-founder.

^†Not the Ernie G. who married Dr. Bob and Anne S.’s daughter, Sue.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1941: An unsuccessful attempt was made to start an A.A. group in Des Moines, Iowa. Emil W. reported to the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City that there had been four attendees. The Foundation responded by sending him inquiries it had received from the area. However, the group was apparently unable to sustain itself.

1941: The first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Bridgeport, Connecticut [left: low aerial view of wharves, 1941] occurred when members of the New Haven, Connecticut, A.A. group traveled there to help start it. Not long thereafter, a group was started in Westport [right, c. 1940s–50s].

1942: Margaret “Bobbie” B. [left] and Bill and Lois W. visited the Alcoholics Anonymous group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin [right: 1940 skyline], giving them a “shot in the arm.” Dr. Gilbert “Gib” K., a dentist, had written to the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City in October 1940 asking for help. He was put in touch with the groups in Madison, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. Within three or four months, Gib had gathered three more members and began holding meetings in his home. Spouses were usually included, together with members from Madison and Chicago, for support. On 30 April 1941, a meeting open to the public was held at the Plankinton Hotel, with about 50 in attendance, including out-of-towners. By January 1943, the group had 25 members with a year or more of sobriety.

1942: Members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio, published the first issue [right: p. 1] of their local newsletter, the Central Bulletin.

1942: Clarence S. [left] stirred controversy in Cleveland, Ohio, after discovering that Dr. Bob S. and Bill W. were receiving royalties from Big Book sales. In light of this revelation, Bill and Dr. Bob re-examined their financial situation and concluded that receiving royalties from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, appeared to be the only solution to their financial difficulties. Bill also sought the advice of Father Ed Dowling [right, 1940], who recommended that Bill and Bob refrain from accepting money for 12th Step work but suggested that they could accept royalties as compensation for their special services to Alcoholics Anonymous.

October 16 in A.A. History

1937: Bill and Lois W. left Akron, Ohio, at 4:30 p.m. and traveled with Sterling P. (who drove) and his wife, arriving in Newark, New Jersey, at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, about 13 hours later [probably via US 22, a likely total of 480–500 miles or 770–800 km]. The four of them had breakfast at a local restaurant before Bill and Lois took the subway home to 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn, where they presumably collapsed into bed.

1941: The Downtown Group of Detroit, Michigan, which met at the Cass Avenue Methodist Church [left, 1911] community center at 4242 Cass Avenue and comprised about forty members, split into three, creating two new groups: the Eastside (or East) Group,^* which would meet at the Mack Avenue Business Men’s Club^† [right: see footnote]; and the Westside Group, which would meet at a barber shop on Hamilton and Puritan Avenues [left: interior, undated] for about a month and then move to Richard’s Card Shop at 10216 Plymouth Road, near Ilene Street, and change their name to the Northwest Group.

Before Ontario, Canada, had A.A. meetings (in Toronto from 13 January 1943 and in Windsor from 22 October 1943), recovering alcoholics from Windsor could come to the Detroit meetings. An early Windsor member said about going to the Detroit meeting on Plymouth Road:

We used to have to drive our car to the tunnel (gasoline was rationed), park the car, drop a nickel in the fare box for the tunnel bus, ride thru the tunnel, walk several blocks to the Grand River Street Car, ride the street car for an hour out to Plymouth Road, then walk about half a mile to Plymouth and Ilene [right: 1947 map of Detroit and environs showing all locations mentioned here].

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^*However, another source, who compiled “many small notes and information on this group, much of [which] appeared to be inaccurate and confusing,” said that the group was started by Archie T. and Mike E. on 2 February 1941 in a men’s club that Mike regularly attended at Cadillac Boulevard (apparently incorrectly identified as Cadillac Avenue) and Mack Avenue, above a furniture store. This location is just over a mile southwest of the Mack Avenue Men’s Club. This group faced two issues: (1) “attendance began to swell immediately” and, perhaps more significantly (2) “women alcoholics were very hesitant to go into a private Men’s Club to attend an alcoholic recovery program.” So by October they moved to St. Columbia [sic, should be “Columba”] Episcopal Church [far left, c. 1930], 1021 Manistique Street, in Detroit, and at the same time decided to split in two, the the new group calling themselves the Grosse Pointe (Memorial) Group, meeting at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church [near left, recent], 16 Lake Shore Drive (<600 ft [183 m] from Lake St. Clair), in Grosse Pointe Farms.

^†This club’s history is very poorly documented. It still exists as a registered public nonprofit organization based in Shelby Township, in Macomb County, Michigan (nonprofit status was recently revoked). It was originally located in Detroit where Mack Avenue crossed the Detroit Terminal Railroad (DTR), between Connor and St. Jean Streets (documented in a request to the Common [City] Council on 30 September 1924 for grade separation where Mack Avenue crossed the DTR tracks). That part of Mack Avenue was converted to an overpass (seen at the extreme ends of the panoramic image above) over the railroad tracks in the early 1950s. The former Mack Avenue road surface was renamed Mack Service Road and can be seen extending east to Connor Street in the right half of the panorama. This panorama comprised a series of images from the same location at the far western end of Mack Service Road, toward the WSW at the left end and toward the SSE at the right end. The 1950s overpass is behind the middle of the image, and the location of the former DTR railroad tracks can be seen in the leftmost third of the panorama above right.

1943: Nearly 200 people attended the third anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toledo, Ohio, at the A.A. clubrooms on Superior Street. Among them were six of the nine founding members [right: article from the 18 October 1943 Toledo Blade, p. 20].

1962: L. Earle T. [far left], 62, died in Sarasota, Florida. He would be buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio [left: middle—obituary, near—gravestone].

1971:^* The North Rustico Group, located in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Canada, presented Louis H. with an engraved coin [near right] to commemorate his one-year anniversary.

1976:^* The North Rustico Group, located in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Canada, presented Louis H. with an engraved coin [right] to commemorate his five-year anniversary.

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^*One of three things must have occurred: (1) Louis H. slipped on the day of his 1st anniversary; (2) at least one of the years reported is incorrect; or (3) at least one of the anniversary numbers is wrong. The period 1971–1976 is 5 years, while a 5th anniversary would come 4 years after the 1st, if there were no slips.

2012: The U.S. National Park Service designated Stepping Stones, the home of Bill and Lois W. from 1941 until their respective deaths, as a National Historic Landmark. The official marker [left] says,

Bill and Lois W—— lived here from 1941 until their deaths. Bill co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, and Lois co-founded Al-Anon Family Groups. Their pioneering work advanced the treatment of alcoholism and inspired addiction recovery programs throughout the world.

The State of New York also erected a similar historical marker outside Stepping Stones [right].

Today in A.A. History—October 16–18

1974: The 3rd World Service Meeting (WSM) of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at the Gloucester Hotel [right] in London, England, marking the first time the event was held outside the United States. The theme for this meeting was “Sharing.” Thirty-three delegates attended, representing nineteen countries [left: report from Box 4-5-9, 1974 Holiday issue]:

Argentina*	Australia	Belgium (Flemish)	Canada
Germany	Central America (north zone)*	Central America (south zone)*	Colombia
Finland	France	Ireland	Mexico
New Zealand	Norway	South Africa	Sweden*
United Kingdom	United States
*First time represented.

Nicaragua was represented at the 2nd WSM but did not attend the 3rd WSM.

1904: Margaret “Marty” M. [left: as a debutante, c. 1925] was born to Lillian Christy and William Henry M. in her maternal grandparents’ home on Magnolia Avenue in Sheridan Park, a new upscale neighborhood on the North Shore of Chi­cago, Illinois. Her family lived just down Magnolia Avenue [right: Typical single-family home (built c. 1910), 4500 block of N. Magnolia Ave, Sheridan Park, similar to the one Marty M. was born in]. Marty was the oldest of five children. A sister, Christy, was born in 1906 but died within 36 hours. Lillian Christy “Chris” was born in 1910, and twins Mary Elizabeth “Betty” and William Henry arrived in 1918. Young Marty led an upper-middle-class life, attending private schools, traveling extensively, and making her social debut.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1940: The first Alcoholics Anonymous group in San Francisco, California, found a “more or less permanent” meeting place at the Telegraph Hill Community House [far left: looking south toward downtown, March 2022; near left: interior, c. 1910–25], located at 1736 Stockton Street in the North Beach district (converted to 11 commer­cial offices). Since its founding in November 1939, the group had been meeting at Mrs. Gordon Oram’s boarding house at 51 Potomac Street [near right, recent; far right: historical plaque there], as well as in other homes.

1940: Alcoholics Anonymous members Marty M. [left, 1940s], Walter W. [right, 1925], and Ray C., the artist who designed dust jacket covers for the first edition Big Book, were elected to the first board of directors of High Watch Farm, which had recently been established as a tax-exempt charitable organization. It is believed to have been the first treatment center in the world based on the Twelve Step program of A.A.

1941: A new Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) club was established at 19th and Park Ave. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to coordinate A.A. activities in the city and surrounding areas. Only six months had passed since the creation of the Minneapolis Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, the first in the state, and just two months since that group had moved to larger quarters at 200 East Franklin [left, Oct 2008]. Six months later, the club would purchase and move into 2218 1st Avenue South [right].

There was much to be done. A new group had formed in St. Paul, and Pat C. [left], the founder of A.A. in Minnesota, was assisting individuals in Hibbing and Duluth, as well as in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Minneapolis also served as the point of contact for prospects in Fargo, North Dakota; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; and Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa.