Brothels, bordellos, & bad girls : prostitution in Colorado, 1860-1930 / Jan MacKell ; foreword by Thomas J. Noel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collins, Jan MacKell, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prostitution--Colorado--History.

Prostitution.

Prostitutes--Colorado--History.

Prostitutes.

History.

Colorado.

Physical Description:

xviii, 310 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Brothels, bordellos, and bad girls

Place of Publication:

Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2004.

Summary:

Prostitution thrived in pioneer Colorado. Mining was the principal occupation and men out-numbered women more than twenty to one. Ian MacKell provides a detailed overview of the business between 1860 and 1930, focusing her research on the mining towns of Cripple Creek, Salida, Colorado City, and similar boomtown communities. She used census data, Sanborn maps, city directories, property records, marriage records, and court records to document and trace the movements of the women over the course of their careers, uncovering work histories, medical problems, and numerous relocations from town to town. She traces many to their graves, through years filled with abuse, disease, narcotics, and violence. MacKell has unearthed numerous colorful and often touching stories, like that of the boy raised in a brothel who was invited to play with a neighbor's children and replied, "No, my mother is a whore and says I am to stay at home."

Contents:

Red-light districts

Life as a harlot

In the beginning there was Denver

How Colorado City came to be

Women of the western slope and central Colorado

Southern belles and ladies of the plains

The shady ladies of Colorado City

The Cripple Creek influence

Traveling gals

Cracking down

Closing down for good

A memory slowly fades.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0826333427

OCLC:

55286417