Dow, Neal (1804–1897)

US temperance reformer. As mayor of Portland, he introduced policies that banned virtually all alcohol sales and meant imprisonment for offenders. This resulted in a riot and the repeal of prohibition, although Dow won passage of a more moderate law.

He was born in Portland, Maine. A businessman, he was devoted to the temperance movement, and, in later life, he toured the USA and Britain preaching prohibition. He ran for president in 1880 as a candidate for the Prohibition Party.