Madams And Prostitutes Thrived In ‘Hell’s Half Acre’ Brothels In Fort Worth – CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
by Ken Molestina | CBS 11
FORT VALUE (CBSDFW.COM) – Fort Worth’s long notorious red light district “Hell’s Half Acre” delivered all kinds of vices.
In particular, it is prostitution that gave power and wealth to the women who chose this lifestyle at the time. They were known as “dirty pigeons” and while their unethical activities contributed to an “anything goes” Wild West atmosphere in Fort Worth, their work in the sex trade made a lasting impact on the city’s history.
Brothels were abundant within the confines of Hell’s Half Acre during the era that flourished from 1870 to 1920.
Dr. Jessica Webb is a TCU trained historian who wrote her dissertation on the subject. Describing the activity as plentiful, she said, “I would say the word is rampant. The quote you often see in the daily newspapers was that Fort Worth was a “wide open city”. ”
Men were served in one of three types of sex houses of the time, which were built in stages.
Dr. Webb said the top and most expensive are salons that have all the amenities of the time and the most desirable prostitutes. A date there would cost $ 5 to $ 10.
Next up were brothels or boarding houses. These tended to be smaller and less luxurious, where the price for female company was around $ 1 per date.
At the bottom of the list were cribs, one-bedroom houses that customers would rent by the day. One date there was about $ 0.25.
The women working there were usually “aged” from parlors and brothels, but still worked in the sex trade.
If a prostitute was successful, had money, and had business acumen, she would normally become a woman by running an entire business that included buying or renting a house for services and employing a long list of workers in addition to the prostitutes themselves .
One of the most famous madams of the time was Mary Porter, who was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Fort Worth after her death in 1905.
The madams made an exceptionally large amount of money during this period and often invested their money in other activities, including philanthropic affairs.
Historians say that whenever law enforcement officials tried to crack down on prostitution in The Acre, it was the madams who were targeted with arrests. These arrests were made loosely because the real intent was to collect fines and charges from the ladies.
Most who got on the matter said the madams were usually released from jail within hours and, as usual, straight back to business after paying a fine.
“They have that influence because they know they are important to the city even if they are kept away from the rest of the city,” said Webb.
While madams usually lived effective and powerful lives, the many prostitutes who never achieved this status did not.
Webb says they usually got out of the sex business by the age of 30, and it wasn’t uncommon to hear about a prostitute who committed suicide.
“They leave notes for many of these women (especially those featured in the report),” said Webb. “They say, ‘You know, I’m desperate, I’m desperate that I can’t do that’.”
Prostitution was eventually driven out of the field along with other vices around 1920.
Soon after, the city of Fort Worth named the area “morally cleansed”.
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