Visibility Of Red Light Districts in Colorado’s San Juan Triangle
Maclaren A. Guthrie Larimer, University of Wyoming Anthropology Department, mguthri4@uwyo.edu
Background
When thinking of the “Wild West”, many often think of red light districts and the prostitutes who inhabited them–especially when thinking of the outlaws of the West. Even popular games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 portray saloons throughout the fictional wild west-based world as having prostitutes. How visible was this profession and part of town in reality, though? There has been previous research done relating to prostitution and red light districts in the American West; including the differences between “upstanding” women compared to those who engaged in sex work and how to study prostitution using archaeology, but there has been a lack of research about the visibilities of these vices in the Colorado San Juan mountains.
This project specifically looks at Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton in the Colorado San Juan Mountains to explore the question of the visibility of prostitution and red light districts as a whole. Ouray, Telluride, and Silverton were all towns built in the 19th century due to the discovery of mineable valuable metals and had their own red light districts that developed due to the presence of miners. Miners were vocal supporters of the establishment of bordellos and saloons in these towns as a majority of them were single and lacked any source of entertainment other than working in the dangerous mines. Mine owners were also often supporters due to “the quicker that the miners spend or lose all their money in town, the faster they will go back to work,” (Paulson 2015:47).
In terms of the profession of prostitution in the mid 19th century, there were different tiers of value given to prostitutes. These tiers ranged from poor streetwalkers up to refined ladies working out of fancy parlor houses (MacKnell 2004:10-16). The visibility of these types of prostitution also likely varied due to the locations that they worked out of. Out of all of these, common brothels which ranged from tents to spaces above saloons and dance halls, were the most common. All of these locations were usually in or around the town’s red light district. Most red light districts were located within a block of the city’s main street, usually rubbing up against respectable businesses (MacKnell 2004:118).
As the towns grew, vices such as prostitution, drinking, and gambling became less socially acceptable which could have affected how visible these activities were on the landscape. For example, prohibition coming to Colorado in 1916 affected the profession of prostitution due to the closure of saloons (Paulson 2015:51). Leading up to prohibition, laws regulating and/or outlawing prostitution, drinking, and gambling were passed which reflected the climate of the time. Prostitution was made illegal in Ouray in 1876 and 1879 for Silverton. Prohibition also influenced the so-called end of prostitution in Ouray and Telluride in the mid-1930’s (Paulson 2015:51). The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps utilized for this project were prior to prohibition, but still around the time of moral issue with prostitution and drinking. The prevalence of prostitution and the size of the red light districts, as well as the visibility of these vices, may have been affected by this.
Methods
To understand the visibility of red light districts in the San Juan Triangle area of Colorado, the cities of Ouray, CO, Telluride, CO and Silverton, CO were selected. First, these towns were mapped onto ArcGIS using Sanborn Insurance Maps from 1908 (Ouray and Telluride) and 1910 (Silverton). These Sanborn Insurance Maps recorded the types of buildings and their locations, so buildings related to the research question were transferred into GIS using the georeferencing and build polygon tools. These related buildings included saloons and dance halls, hotels and boarding houses, churches, and government buildings. Government buildings consist of town halls, courthouses, and jails. It should be noted that saloons can also have boarding, so the places marked specifically as hotels and boarding houses on these maps are separate from saloons and dance halls.
After the buildings were mapped, the red light district (RLD) was located utilizing historical references and other scholars’ research. Defining the area of the RLD required information gathered primarily from “Of Painted Women and Patrons: An Analysis of Personal Items and Identity at a Victorian-Era Red Light District in Ouray, Colorado” (2012), Bordellos of Blair Street: The Story of Silverton, Colorado's Notorious Red Light District” (1993), and “Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls: Prostitution in Colorado, 1860-1930” (2004). In addition to this, historical photographs, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, and local histories were also consulted. The approximate RLD was then mapped into ArcGIS utilizing the create feature class and build polygon tools once again.
Post-mapping the proximity of the building types were compared. To do this, the distance between the closest part of the red light district was compared to each “proper” building type (churches, government buildings) using the ArcGIS Generate Near Table tool. These distances were averaged to find the average distance between the RLD and the building type. This average was also compared between towns to see if they are similar. Additionally, building types were counted and contrasted for each town to better understand this data. Relative size of the towns were also taken into account.
Results
In Ouray, CO, there are 12 saloons and dance halls present on the 1908 Sanborn Insurance Map that were transferred into ArcGIS. Of these 12 saloons and dance halls, half of them were located in the 3 blocks associated with the RLD. The approximate RLD area was located due to Gensmer’s 2012 thesis. The other 6 saloons and dance halls were located in the blocks next to what was described as the RLD on Third Street, which was also known as Main Street. There are 11 hotels or boarding houses located on the map, with only 3 located within the RLD. In terms of the “proper” buildings, there are 3 government buildings and 5 churches with none of these located within the red light district. The respective distances from the RLD to a government building averaged to 637.67 ft, while the average distance between the RLD and church buildings was 840.6 ft. The closest government building was 449 ft and the closest church to the red light district boundary was 377 ft. The area of Ouray is 0.860937 mi².
According to the 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Silverton, CO had 31 saloons or dance halls, 14 hotels or boarding houses, 2 government buildings, and 3 churches. Within the RLD, there were 19 saloons or dance halls and 5 hotels or boarding houses. As MacKnell (2004) found, a majority of the saloons were located on Green St. while the brothels were mostly limited to Blair St (87). Some of the brothels are still-standing buildings which helped confirm the location of the RLD and validate MacKnell’s data. Once again, there were no government or church buildings located within the RLD. The average proximity between the red light district and government buildings was 997 ft and 489.33 ft for churches. The closest government building was 920 ft and the closest church was 261 ft away from the RLD boundary. The area of Silverton, CO is 0.834375 mi².
Telluride, CO is the largest of the three towns associated with the San Juan Triangle. Within this town, the 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map listed 20 saloons or dance halls, 18 hotels or boarding houses, 5 government buildings, and 3 churches. Within the RLD, there were 10 saloons or dance halls, 4 hotels or boarding houses, and 2 government buildings (jails). There are currently 3 still-standing cribs in Telluride. Interestingly, they are not found on the Sanborn map, so they were likely built post-1908. The closest church to the RLD boundary was 566 ft. This was the only town that had a “proper” building type located within the approximate RLD. Due to this, the average proximity between the RLD and government buildings was a mere 352 ft. The average distance between the red light distance and churches was 783.667 ft. The area of Telluride, CO is 2.224 mi².
Between the three towns, the average distance between government buildings and the RLD boundary was 662.23 ft while the average distance between churches and the RLD was 704.53 ft. The closest “proper” buildings to the RLD were government buildings and were primarily listed as jails on the Sanborn maps. This was best exhibited by the 2 jail buildings within the RLD in Telluride, CO. Additionally, even though Ouray and Silverton are approximately the same size, they had different building proximities and building counts. Ouray’s analysis showed that government buildings were generally closer than churches to the RLD, while Silverton had the opposite. Silverton, CO had the most saloons (31) while having the smallest square mileage; this is compared to Ouray’s 12 and Telluride’s 20. Additionally, the area associated with the red light districts in all three towns was approximately 0.5 mi regardless of the town’s area.
Conclusions
This semester-long project finds some correlation between the locations of government buildings, churches, and the RLD area in the San Juan Triangle. In 2 out of the 3 towns, government buildings were more likely to be closer to the RLD than churches were–Silverton was the only one that did not exhibit this trend. Government buildings, such as jails, were likely closer as much of the crime happened within and around the RLD. The amount of “proper” buildings may have also influenced the prevalence of “improper” buildings as it could reflect the values of the town’s inhabitants at the time; i.e., Ouray had the least number of saloons while having the most churches. The ratio of “proper” buildings to saloons and dance halls in Ouray was 2:3.
More research needs to be conducted to better understand the visibility of red light districts in the San Juan Triangle and broader American West. Analysis was limited by the understanding of the building usages based on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map data. Buildings could have been mislabeled, misunderstood, or purposefully presented as something it wasn’t due to prostitution being illegal in all three towns at the time of the Sanborn Maps creation. Additionally, a fair amount of prostitution was historically performed in rented apartments, personal housing, or otherwise inconspicuous locations that would not have been obvious by building type (MacKnell 2004:12). Oral histories and records relating to these vices could also be inaccurate. There is also the possibility of human error in calculating proximities and georeferencing historic Sanborn Maps onto a modern map.
References
Bird, A.G. (1993). Bordellos of Blair Street: The Story of Silverton, Colorado's Notorious Red Light District. Second Edition. Advertising Publications & Consultants, Pierson, Michigan.
Gensmer, Kristin A. (2012). Of Painted Women and Patrons: An Analysis of Personal Items and Identity at a Victorian-Era Red Light District in Ouray, Colorado. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
MacKnell, Jan (2004). Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls: Prostitution in Colorado, 1860-1930. 1st ed. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Paulson, Don (2015). Mines, Miners, and Much More. Twain Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.