The District
The city of New Orleans became a playground for state-sanctioned sin. The god-fearing, law-abiding public was uproarious in their demands to compartmentalize the prostitution and gambling that was spreading through the streets (3). Alderman Sidney Story tirelessly searched for ways to legally contain the untoward practices. His research would unveil an exploitive loophole through which the city would be able to control the spread of 'sport', the name given to the collective vices of prostitution, gambling and drinking.
Prostitution could not be made legal, per say, but it could be decreed not illegal (1). With this goal in sight, Story introduced a writ that would delineate a 16-block zone where the practices of the whores and reprobates would be tolerated, provided they stayed within the boundaries of what the councilman named, “The District” in reference to the red-light district. Story’s proposed legislation was enacted on January 1, 1898 with the confining area being along, Iberville, Basin, St. Louis, and N. Robertson streets. This placed the District just blocks from both the turning basin of the Carondelet Canal and Southern Railway’s Canal Street terminal thus creating centralized access for travelers, which pleased the district inhabitants (Branley). Story was applauded by fellow politicians and the public for his clever and legal solution. This acreage, segregated to contain the city’s growing lust for vice, was dubbed, ”Storyville” by the media. Sidney Story hated that his surname was sullied in association with the district his labors had birthed (3). |
Alderman Sidney StoryThe District legislation Sidney Story proposed stated: |
Brothels outside the district were
quickly closed and relocated within district limits. As in any city, there was
a caste system in place (3). There were the poor folk’s ‘cribs’ which
were essentially flop houses with thin mattresses and basins of water or
sometimes just wash cloths, used for sanitation before and after services. These were cheap to rent and the services
found therein mirrored that in price and quality (5). Basin Street was already home to several renowned
homes where prostitution flourished, but the restructuring of the ‘legal’
boundaries would soon see this street lined with the most palatial manses,
saloons, dance halls and adult entertainment venues. Many of the city’s wealthiest
occupants lost leases with the introduction of the district, and were eager to recoup
their losses. From church leaders to politicians,
the well-to-do sought to buy real estate in the district, or lease properties
they already owned, to the madams who were forced to relocate. Everyone wanted
a piece of the pie. Several prominent madams were backed by wealthy men who
they were bedfellows with; others simply paid the exorbitant rents imposed on
them by the greedy landowners. The most well-known was Tom Anderson, a wealthy Louisiana
state legislator who wielded a considerable level if control over the district (1), (3).
A Storyville crib, usually very sparse with cheap rent; the women turned tricks here for mere coin. The working girls in the cribs either fended for themselves or worked for a pimp, who offered protection, but in turn, kept most of the money for himself.
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson was thought by many to be the kingpin around Storyville. He was the unofficial mayor, and referred to his domain as Anderson County. He owned many businesses in Storyville including restaurants, saloons, cafes, cabarets. The Arlington café and Arlington Annex, named for madam Josie Arlington, a business partner and paramour of Andersons, are among the most memorable.
Andserson is said to have been liked by all. He was friend to politicians, police, madam, johns and working girls alike. He seamlessly blended the facets of his life as a politico and pimp without his morality or intentions being questioned.
Mayor Anderson is said to have underwritten and published the Storyville Blue Book, a listing of all the brothels and working girls in the district.
His guiding hand helped the District remain a well-oiled profitable endeavor until it's closure in 1917.
Andserson is said to have been liked by all. He was friend to politicians, police, madam, johns and working girls alike. He seamlessly blended the facets of his life as a politico and pimp without his morality or intentions being questioned.
Mayor Anderson is said to have underwritten and published the Storyville Blue Book, a listing of all the brothels and working girls in the district.
His guiding hand helped the District remain a well-oiled profitable endeavor until it's closure in 1917.
The pleasure palaces were austere mansions trimmed with fine furnishing lined with baubles meant to project an air of stature, even if they were not authentic in their finery (3). Each opulent hall housed musicians, maids, wines and selections of exotic women in line with her specialty. Several front runners of jazz and swing music like Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong (6) got their start in the palaces. Madam Emma Johnson featured a sex circus showcasing girls in lewd acts with, among other things, a dog and a pony. Lulu White’s claim to fame was the sprawling and decadent Mahogany Hall built to her specifications, and a selection of exotic mixed-race girls called octoroons; a favorite with dignified white men (5). Each Madam had a hook to entice gentlemen looking to spend to her establishment.
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The End of an Era
Business was conducted in much the same way for the next 20
years until the start of World War 1, when the military discovered that venereal
disease among the soldiers was a growing concern (5). Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker believed
vice-districts such as Storyville were largely to blame for those statistics,
and he lobbied for the forcible closure of any establishment within five miles
of a military base conducting illegal or immoral practices. Apparently, the
proximity to the seaport that had cultivated the success of Storyville for 20
years, would also be the key to its undoing. The Navy , with a base just a few
miles from Storyville, concluded that Baker’s logic was sound (2), and on
November 14, 1917, the first legal red-light district was closed for good (6).
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