When Reverend H.H. McNeil arrived in Dothan in 1913 to begin preaching at Foster St. Methodist, Dothan had been DRY for about six years but it wasn't very dry. Liquor still arrived at the depot and was stored in railroad warehouses. There were plenty of shot houses (blind tigers) in town and visitors staying in the hotels were able to get a toddy seven days a week. Reverend McNeil took this as a subject for his sermons and he invited speakers representing the Anti-Saloon League, the Epworth League, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, etc. to present their message from the podium of Foster Street Methodist. On Wednesday night, August 5, 1914, somebody poured kerosene all over the porches of Rev. McNeil's parsonage and set it on fire. All the occupants of the dwelling survived.