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From 1870 to 1908 Salt Lake City's primary Red Light District was Commercial Street

(now Regent Street.) It was built in 1871. It straggled on into the 1930s, but for nearly

forty years it was the citys prime location of debauchery. In the 1880's the Salt Lake

Tribune wrote that the street was a "a resort of gamblers and fast women. The Deseret

News, felt the same and wrote that the occupants of Commercial Street were "the demi-

monde, the male parasite, the dope fiend, the gambler and the begger." The district was

small an area between State Street and Main Street, no more than an alleyway that

connects 100 South to 200 South (figure a)6/10 of mile to be exact. Today only one

piece of that past remains:165 South. It meets the criteria to make it on the States

National Historical Register for its social history; criteria A, as the building is associated

with a series of events. The area should be studied more because only one building of

the cities former Red Light District is left. Without it, nothing of the time period remains

in the area. Currently, Regent Street and Plum Alley,(which runs parallel east of Regent

(figure b) are home to numerous parking structures. All that remains are a few markers

(figure c) and I believe the history of Utah's Red Light District is just as relevant as the

States pioneer past.!

Brothels were first in Utah in 1858, near Camp Floyd (figure d) which is roughly forty

miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Camp Floyd was where part of the U.S. Army were

stationed after the Expedition of Utah was ended that year.1 The soldiers and their

behavior changed the whole feel of the Wasatch Front, and being under the watch of

1 Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah,http://www.sltrib.com!

Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston did little to curb their appetites. Brigham Young felt he

was losing the control he had over the community, and the cause of this loss of power

was from outsiders who were moving into Zion.2 The completion of the transcontinental

railroad in 1869 also help usher prostitution into Utah.!

Prostititues didn't appear in Salt Lake City until ten years after Brigham Young and his

followers arrived at This is the place. Two blocks south of Temple Square was an area

that held host to the worlds oldest profession. All along 200 South, Commercial Street

(now Regent), Franklin Avenue (now Edison), in the interior of Block 57 (now the

Gallivan Center), and other transient locations, all located within a few blocks in the

heart of the city.3 "Occasionally a female figure flits in from one of the side streets and

is swallowed up in the darkness of Plum Alley," wrote a reporter in the Oct. 15, 1900,

issue of The Salt Lake Tribune, "and it needs not more than one guess from the

uninitiated to tell where she has gone to.4(figure e)That phrase embodied the district,

as it is now embedded in the concrete over a hundred years later at around 100 S and

Regent.!

165 South still holds one of the original brothtels, this past summer it was put up for

sale for around 2.5 millionion dollars (figure f.) It is currently owned by Form

Development, and was built in 1894. It is the last of the building from this time period in

this area. All the others have been torn down. Most recently the building held law

offices. Before (and during and after its time as a brothel) it was a cigar store; the

2 Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com,

3Jeff Nicols,http://www.mappingslc.org/essay/item/40-grand-night-out
4 Eileen Hallet Stone, The Salt Lake Tribune, December 14, 2012
Leader Cigar Factory and then it was the Felt Electric building. In 1921 the Felt Lighting

Company opened up its first showroom at 165 (figure g.) Charles Lamont Felt went from

selling light bulbs and lamps from the back of his wagon to selling floor lamps and

chandeliers at the former brothel.5The Felts stayed on Commercial Street until 1976,

when 3rd generation family owners moved it to South Salt Lake (3300 South.)!

165 is now on its way to becoming a a multi-use boutique hotel.6 Outside the building

is a sign depicting the streets past to tourists who visit the city (figure h.)The buildings

outside is made up of the original brick work. Inside it has retained much of its original

ceramic, marble tile and high ceilings. The original floor plan is mostly untouched, other

then upgrades that have been made over the decades. !

Other known brothels from the area were at 167 and 169 Regent Street. In 1893 a

two-story building was built by Gustav S. Holmes at 167 Regent Street. In 1899 another

building, similar to 167, was built by Stephen Hayes at 169 Regent Street. The upstairs

of the houses were known as the "parlor house, called because the girls received their

patrons in the parlor. Besides the parlors there was large center room, with ten cribs."

Each crib or room only had space for a bed, chair, dresser and washstand. The

contractor of 169 Regent was one of Salt Lakes well known architect of the time, Walter

E. Ware.!

Mixed between the brothes were numerous legitimate business-cafes, tobacco

shops, and liquor stores. Like many of the other houses of ill repute the street level

often had legitimates businesses, usually a bar or restaurant. !

5 http://feltlighting.com/about.asp
6 Isaac Riddle, Building Salt Lake, April 18, 2016
The upstair second stories were rented out nightly to prostitutes who would sit on the

stairway and invite potential clients to "come up and visit.7!

Regent Street, is the center for publishing of Salt Lake City's two daily newspapers,

and has been so since the early 1900s. Today it is also home of Regent Street Parking

and the Eccles Theater. Salt Lake Government in an effort to make the city more

walkable, plan on revamping the street into an outdoor plaza (figure i.)!

Prositutution has always been a part of history. The American west was ripe with it.

The Utah frontier was no different. While it was illegal, it was well known and tolerated.

Salt Lake cities population grew five fold in the years 1880-1910, increasing the

inhabitants to 93,000.With the population growth, came a growth in prostitution. In 1886

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had their annual conference. According

to a report in the Deseret News, discussed at the conference was the prostitution

problem that was invading the land, including the six brothels, forty bars, and numerous

gambling houses all run by non Mormons.8 There were also several one-night cribs.9

John Held Jr. wrote in his memoirs, comparing the citys night life to Sodom and

Gomorrah.10 !

Prostitution was tolerated as long as it was confined to Commercial Street (figure j.)

By keeping it to this area, it was kept away from the upstanding citizens - although it

7Eileen Hallet Stone, Living History: From fancy brothels to brick-and-mortar pens,The Salt
Lake tribune, Dec.14,2012
8Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com!

9 The Salt Tribune

10 EileenHallet Stone, Living History: From fancy brothels to brick-and-mortar pens,The Salt
Lake tribune, Dec.14,2012
was just a few short blocks from Temple Square (figure k). This was incredibly upsetting

to the Mormons. Some of the working girls were incredibly brazen and solicited men

when they walked by with their families. Somewhere in the late 1880s, prostitution was

unofficially licensed. Monthly police would "arrest" all of the madams and their girls,

fine them $50 each. After a physical exam, they would be let go, free to work with out

any further harassment.11!

A formal registration system was introduced in 1908. The police kept record of the

madams the girls they had working for them and their address. Every madam and

brothel reciprocated giving the police an up to date list of the names of the girls they had

working for them. Each month, every girl had to pay a ten-dollar fine. This made up a

good part of Salt Lakes income.12 Brothels were routinely raided, and in September

1872 several houses and their furnishing were completely destroyed in a zealous raid.13!

Kate Flint, or Gentile Kate, was one madam affected by these raids. She opened

the first brothel on Commercial Street, and purchased Brigham Young's carriage after

his death (complete with mormon symbols on the doors), and would drive it along the

streets of Salt Lake. She grabbed the attention of local papers and was written up

numerous times: four times in 1872, twice in 1873, four more in 1874 and six in 1875.

Despite the bad publicity and numerous raids she refused to close down. in 1875 after

yet another raid, Kate fought back and sued. Apparently her silk underwear was torn

and a thousand dollars was stolen. She won her court date and was awarded six

11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Salt_Lake_City
12 https://heritage.utah.gov/history/history-stockade-sl-red-light-district
13 Jan MacKell ,Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains!
thousand dollars. The court stated that she was no more violating the law then Mormon

polygamist. The Salt Lake Tribune was in agreence asking, What is the difference?

Agreeing with the court was the Desert News,If Kate Flint kept a house and it was

proved that fifty men frequented it for purposes of illicit intercourse, and process could

be issued and her furniture and household goods be broken pup therefore, the same

could be done with say John Smith, who might have in his house twelve women whom

he has illicit sexual intercourse.14!

The area attracted a wide variety clientele; top-hatted gentlemen of the upper

classes, miners, cattlemen, opium addicts and beyond. In fact, it was an associate

justice of the Supreme Court who is said to have imported the first lady of the night to

Utah.15 W.W. Drummond was federally appointed by President Franklin Pierce, he thus

abandoned his family in Illinois and took up with a prostitute in Washington D.C. When

coming to Salt Lake City he introduced the prostitue not as Ada Carroll, but as "Mrs.

Justice Drummond. According to sources of the time Ada shared a seat on the court

bench with the judge. It went as far as her nudging him on the knee from time to time,

apparently to indicate the number of years he ought to mete out to miscreants before

the bar of justice.16 Drummond was also known to lecture against "the deplorable

Mormon practice of plural wifery17." Locals finally realized that Ada was not Drummonds

wife and they left the territory in a hurry.!

14 Jan MacKell ,Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains!

15Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com

16Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com!

17 Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com

 Passing by the nicer brothels, you would have never guessed, what went on behind

the closed doors. They were run by Madams, and johns would be greeted at the door by

a well dressed attendant. In his memoirs John Held Jr. wrote, that the grandness

houses surpassed those of even places like New Orleans. He saw first hand the gilded

mirrors and red velvets drapes when he accompanied his uncle on jobs to install electric

bells. Another of these extravagant house was run by Ada Wilson, one of Salt Lakes first

madams. She had a professor who played piano in the drawing room. Ada was also

known to take daily rides in a spruced up hackney-drawn dog cart. Helen Blazes, a

more conservative madam, was known to only cater to the wealthy and would only

serve wine.18!

The area was home to not only prostitutes but people of color and immigrants whom

at the time were considered non-white (primarily the Irish.) Like in other cities officials in

Utah wanted to keep prostitutesno matter their coloraway from "respectable" white

residents. They wanted them with "less desirable" immigrants, including African

Americans, Irish, and Chinese.19 Nearby Franklin Avenue was Darktown, (1910

census found only African Americans living there) and Plum Alley was Salt Lakes

Chinatown.20!

18 Hal Schindler, The Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com

19Neil Larry Shumsky and Larry M. Springer, "San Francisco's Zone of Prostitution, 1880-1934,"
Journal of Historical Geography 7 no. 1 (January 1981): 71-82; and Ruth Rosen, The Lost
Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918!
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 79.
20See Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for 1898 and 1911; for "Darktown," Salt Lake City Herald,
9 April 1901;
 Looking to prostitution as a successful business venture was rarely successful.

Botched abortions and murder were just a few of the things that could go wrong.

Chlaymidia, sphyliss, and gohnerea were rampant in the 19th century. Alcohol and

opiate abuse were also common. Periodic arrests and checks for infection (the citys

way of trying to regulate prostitution) did nothing to deter the ladies from working.

Disfigurement by angry johns was another danger that could befall a prostitute, suicide

was yet another. Overall, it was (and is) not the safest career choice.!

The women came from all different backgrounds and ethnicties. Many were widows

with no families. Some were divorcees, while others came out West looking for a better

life. Some were looking for a type of freedom. They were known by many names, from

prostitue to soiled doves. "To make any kind of a decent living, I have to take in more

than $100 a month," reported a streetwalker in the Dec. 19, 1902, issue of the Salt Lake

Herald. "I can buy food and coal with it, pay my $60 room rent, pay the $10 a month

required as a license [that] the police call a fine, dress myself and have spending money

for cigarettes and beer.21 The women would often move from brothel to brothel, either

for financial, legal or personal reasons. Sometimes the police would force the women to

move to other houses (again as a type of deterrent.) Madams who owned their

buildings, usually worked in the same place for decades. Elsie St. Omar (ne Anderson)

was one madam who were arrested several times for running a brothel in the District.22

Miss Helen Blazes and Miss Ada Wilson were others.!

21
Eileen Hallet Stone, The Salt Lake tribune, Living History: From fancy brothels to brick-and-
mortar pens, Dec.14,2012
2216 Tribune, 23, 27 August 1890; Salt Lake City Police Court, "Book of Miscellaneous
Offenses, 1891-2," Utah State Archives series 4618, p. 198.
 By 1903 the area was thought to be a bit sorid. It was disreputable and was bringing

the prices of property down. Salt Lake City mayor John Bransford proposed to put the

ladies in another part of town. Belief was that prostitution could not be eliminated, and

should rather be restricted to a certain zone and regulated by periodic arrests and fines

that amounted to de facto licensing.!

The main source of information we have about the district comes from newspapers

(figure l.) In an newspaper article from The Salt Lake Tribune (figure m) there was an

article describing a crusade to keep the women on Commercial Street and Plum Alley.

Apparently, certain woman were working outside their assigned areas, and people

took offense to it. In 1908 historian Harold Schindler wrote, "There came a hue and cry

to 'clean up the city, it was the end of Salt Lakes downtown red light district and the

beginning of the stockade (figure n.)!

From the start the LDS Church had issue with the downtown district. But with that

came an unbelievable hypocrisy. In 1908 the city officials hired Ogden top madam, Dora

Topham, a.k.a. Belle London (figure o), to run a legal red light district the stockade,

between 500 and 600 West and 100 and 200 South. Topham agreed, and saw

prostitution as a part of life, saying,I know, and you know, that prostitution has existed

since the earliest ages, and if you are honest with yourselves, you will admit that it will

continue to exist, no matter what may be said or done from the pulpit or through the

exertions of womens clubs.23 The local authorities used the district to line their

pockets. They charged the prostitutes monthly fines, taxes and fees. These fines was a

way to try to keep the girls in line. A prostitution record was but into plan by the Salt

23JAN MACKELL, True West Magazine ,SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Lake City council and the local law. Being caught soliciting could get you exiled out of

town. The ten dollar monthly fee, didnt do much. Nothing seemed to stop prostitution in

the capitol city.24Despite the police efforts to keep prostitution in the stockade, the

downtown red light district thrived well into the 1930s.!

There is numerous background information about Commercial Street, but know one

has done any excavating. Research wise, I would like to put together a small team of

people (two or three, including myself.) I would would like to dig in the basement of the

Regent street building. In particular, I would like to dig through the midden heap that is

still possibly in the basement (as I have seen in many dirt basements in historic Utah

homes.) Many buildings of the time period burned their trash in the basement and to this

day there is still garbage left in the basement of old homes/buildings. I would also like to

establish a grid in square meter units, using hand tape, nails and mason lines. I would

likely use a pick and small gardening shovel to dig. I would label and categorize found

objects, and finally catalogue everything found. I would hopefully find bottlespatent

medicines containing ingredients like laudanum, as well as alcohol bottles. Discarded

cosmetic jars and tobacco tins would also be a possibility.!

I like most scholars, would like to find diaries of the madams and the working woman.

I would also like to to find photographs, to put faces to the names. At this point there are

very few photographs of the individuals that made up the Red Light District of Salt Lake

City. These could possibly be located from local rare book dealer Ken Sanders.25 He

24 Michael Rutter, Boudoirs to Brothels: The Intimate World of Wild West Women!

25Going to Ken Sanders, I did find nude photographs from around the 1920s (based on the
hairstyle), but Mr. Sanders was not there, so I was unable to find out if the photograph was
local.
may always be aware of any diaries or letters concerning the women. I would also like

to get into contact with the Felt Electric Company Family. They may have possibly found

artifacts, or others things of interest during their time in the building. !

I would also like to look into the social backgrounds of the women. Specifically, what

led them into the life of prostitution. To do so I would start by looking into arrest records,

as well try to locate the registration records of the women. By looking into arrest records

and the lists kept of women working in brothels, we could possibly be able to go

further into their backgrounds. Finally, I would like to look into if having prostitutes work

in one area, like Salt Lakes District cuts down on violence against working women.!

I believe more research needs to be done on the individual women that worked in the

former Red Light District of Salt Lake City and the area in general. We know some

about the madams that made headlines. But what about the women behind the

madams? I want to know more about the individual women that worked here and what

they may have left behind. I would like to know their individual histories, and who they

were before they were working girls and what lead them to such dire career choices.!

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Works Cited!
! Hal SchindlerThe Oldest Profession's Sordid Past in Utah." Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. June 08,
2016. Accessed December 12, 2017. https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-slt-oldest-professions-sordid-past.
!!
Issac Riddle"Historic Downtown building will find new use." Building Salt Lake. January 04, 2017.
Accessed December 12, 2017. https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/historic-downtown-building-will-find-
new-use/.!
!
Christopher Smart | The Salt Lake Tribune January 30, 2014 1:44 pm. "Salt Lake City's Regent
Street, once a haven for brothels, is getting a facelift." The Salt Lake Tribune. Accessed December 12,
2017. http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57462440&itype=CMSID.!
!
"Page 36 | Interviews with Jews in Utah." J. Willard Marriott Digital Library. Accessed December 12,
2017. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=904894.!
!
Eileen Hallet Stone The Salt Lake Tribune December 14, 2012 4:48 pm. "Living History: From fancy
brothels to brick-and-mortar pens." The Salt Lake Tribune. Accessed December 12, 2017. http://
archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=55468648&itype=CMSID.!
!
Jan MacKell, Thomas J. Noel: 9780826346100: Amazon.com: Books. Accessed December 12, 2017.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Light-Women-Rocky-Mountains/dp/0826346103.!
!
Jeff Nicols. "Stories, Memories & History - Grand Night Out." Mapping Salt Lake City. Accessed
December 12, 2017. http://www.mappingslc.org/essay/item/40-grand-night-out.!
!!
Regent Street - Salt Lake City, UT - Utah Historical Markers on Waymarking.com. Accessed December
11, 2017. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMGFRF_Regent_Street_Salt_Lake_City_UT.!
!
"Salt Lake Herald. (Salt Lake City) 1901-04-13 [p 3]." Accessed December 12, 2017.!
!
Utah Digital Newspapers. Accessed December 12, 2017. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/search!
!
Neil Larry Shumsky and Larry M. Springer, "San Francisco's Zone of Prostitution, 1880-1934," Journal
of Historical Geography 7 no. 1 (January 1981): 71-82; and Ruth Rosen, The Lost Sisterhood:
Prostitution in America, 1900-1918!
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 79.!
!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Salt_Lake_City!
! http://feltlighting.com/about.asp!
!
https://preservationutah.org/images/stories/newsletters/newsletter_spring_08.pdf!