Dumas Brothel
The Dumas Brothel (formerly Dumas Hotel ) was a well-known brothel ( English : brothel ) in Butte in the US state of Montana . The house is in the heart of downtown, which in Butte, unlike many other American cities, is known as 'Uptown'. Today's museum was in operation as a brothel from 1890 to 1982, making it the longest continuously operated facility of this type in the USA.
background
Butte was not built until the end of the 19th century on the "richest hill on earth", a rich ore deposit of copper and other metals. The mining town began as a tent settlement around 1870, was Montana's largest city by the turn of the century, and received the state's first electric street lighting. The miners from Butte, their foremen and the rich mine owners, their suppliers and service providers lived according to the motto “Work hard, live hard and die hard” (work hard, live hard and don't lose weight). This included the favor trade such as dance and music halls, which were initially open and present in the middle of the city in the immediate vicinity of the tunnel entrances and winding towers.
Vulgar manner, overfed, overdressed and underbred.
Vulgar Heathen godless hell's delight, Rude by day and lewd by night.
Dwarfed the man, enlarged the brute, Ruled by rou and prostitute.
Purple robed and pauper clad, raving, rotting, money-mad.
Squirming stove in Mammon's mesh, Wilderness of human flesh.
Crazed by Avarice, Lust and Rum, Butte, your name is Delirium.
Evil demeanor, over-eaten, disgusted, undernourished
Vulgar heathen godless infernal pleasure, rough during the day and dissolute at night
Man is humiliated, the monster exalted, reigns from the gaming table and whores
In purple robes and begging clothes, raging, rotting and money-mad, bustling
herds in Mammon's cage the wilderness of the flesh
Crazy with greed, lust and rum: Butte - your name is delirium
Environment and origin
Around 1880 the so-called 'Theater Comique', an important variety theater, was built. The prostitution moved out of the tent cities in various fixed establishments. The construction of the Dumas itself represents a clear differentiation of the offer. The house was planned and built in 1890 by the Nadeau Investment Company in the Victorian style as a brothel. The company, which ran several brothels and night clubs, was owned by French Canadians Joseph and Arthur Nadeau. The wife of Joseph, Delia Nadeau, was registered as the owner of Dumas.
The house is the last surviving example of this type of architecture. It has an interior illuminated with skylights and colored windows, which could also be used for dance events. Several bars, a restaurant and several “cribs”, smaller rooms with just enough space for a bed, surround the interior on several floors. The current division with 43 rooms corresponds to a subsequent division, the brothel was originally planned with significantly fewer rooms for an exquisite audience. The original spacious room layout is still preserved on the second floor.
The back entrance is on Wyoming Street. As Venus Alley, this covered alley represented the central area of the red-light district and street prostitution in Butte. Several tunnels to other buildings in the city gave dignitaries and prominent suitors discreet access, although prostitution was no secret in the early days. Among the guests was Charlie Chaplin , who immortalized the red light district of Buttes in his memoir.
Based on the Dumas model, similar establishments were built along Main Street, Galena - Wyoming and Mercury Street , employing up to 100 prostitutes. One of the clubs, on the other hand, only employed four women who, however, were among the greatest "beauties" of the time.
Further development
As early as 1900, the city made its first efforts to curb prostitution. Strict dress codes issued by the sheriff and mayor in 1910 resulted in long faces and long skirts the next day. The prostitutes began to draw attention to themselves through intense knocking and noise behind the window curtains that were also required. A complete ban on prostitution in the period between the world wars was later weakened, and a later planned relocation of the red light district from the immediate city center could not be fully implemented.
Decline of mining and Dumas
The decline of mining in Butte until the 1970s also had consequences for the red light industry. In 1982 the brothel was closed by the tax authorities. The previous owner, Ruby Garrett, had failed to pay income taxes.
In 1989 the building was bought by Rudy Giecek, a history-loving resident of Butte, and converted into a museum. The California International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education was also involved. In the meantime there was a legal dispute between Giecek and the foundation. In 2005 the brothel museum was closed due to urgent repairs and reopened in 2008.
Among other things, Giecek has written a novel that describes a murder case in the house and refers to alleged ghosts in the house in advertising brochures. In the basement, Giecek opened up some forgotten cribs that still had original furnishings in the state of preservation from the 1940s. But that had nothing to do with the heyday of the brothel at the turn of the century.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Devil’s Perch: Prostitution from Suite to Cellar in Butte, Montana ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , by Ellen Baumler, web version of a paper given at the 1996 Montana History Conference in Butte.
- ^ Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914–1941, Mary Murphy. University of Illinois Press, 1997
- ^ Butte and Montana Beneath the X-ray, a collection of editorials from the Butte X-ray during the years 1907-08, Warren G. Davenport, The X-ray Publishing Company, 1908
- ^ Mary Murphy: Women on the Line: Prostitution in Butte, Montana, 1878-1917 (master's thesis, University of North Carolina, 1983), pp. 45-46.
- ^ Tales of the Dumas Parlor House: The Mining City's Last Brothel, 1890-1982. , Advertising leaflet, 1995, Butte, Montana
- ↑ Haunted Dumas Brothel embroiled in lawsuit. ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 10, 2001 Roadside America
- ↑ Rudy Giecek: Venus Alley. Booksurge Llc 2005, ISBN 0-9747082-0-8 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 0 ′ 41.6 ″ N , 112 ° 32 ′ 2 ″ W.