MONEY AND ILL FAME: INTERPRETING A PROSTITUTION HIERARCHY IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA’S HISTORICAL RED-LIGHT DISTRICT A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science By Anna Marie Munns In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major Department: Sociology and Anthropology November 2017 Fargo, North Dakota North Dakota State University Graduate School Title Money and Ill Fame: Interpreting a Prostitution Hierarchy in Fargo, North Dakota’s Historical Red-Light District By Anna Marie Munns The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Dr. Kristen Fellows Chair Dr. John Creese Dr. Angela Smith Approved: November 13, 2017 Dr. Jeffrey Bumgarner Date Department Chair ABSTRACT Many inhabitants of early Fargo sought economic opportunities in the local sex trade, and the intersectionality of class, gender, sexuality, and race was central to their varying degrees of success. Police Magistrate Court dockets, Sanborn maps, and Census records offer valuable datasets for linguistic and spatial analyses of prostitution-related crimes, revealing a hierarchy of sex work that differentiated between brothel, crib, and street prostitution. Gender inequalities also persisted within the hierarchy; male clientele were often charged and fined differently from female sex workers. GIS analyses reveal two distinct red-light districts, and highlight brothel differences and racial segregation within the red-light district known as “The Hollow.” Critical theory and practice theory help conceptualize the red-light district as an institution, while exposing the power dynamics at play. This thesis offers new insights into Fargo’s historical red- light district, but also contributes to larger historical and archaeological discussions of prostitution hierarchies, gender, and race. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many individuals helped make this thesis a reality, and I am so grateful for their support. First, I would sincerely like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kristen Fellows. She introduced me to the historical side of archaeology, reviewed countless drafts, and challenged me to accomplish more than I ever thought possible. Both Dr. Fellows and Dr. Angela Smith have been invaluable mentors, and I am very grateful for every opportunity to collaborate with them on this fascinating project. I truly appreciate the enormous amount of research conducted previously by Dr. Smith and her students, as it made my own research possible. Thank you also to Dr. John Creese who served on my thesis committee and was always willing to talk about theory and GIS. Many thanks to the staff at the North Dakota State University Archives, who were instrumental in finding every court docket and answering my endless questions on their collections. I also thank my colleagues at the University of Jamestown for their endless positivity and encouragement. Finally, I thank my family and friends for their love, support, and patience as I worked through the writing process. And a huge thank you to my husband, Kyle Engdahl, who volunteered to help whenever he could and never stopped motivating me. I could not have done this without them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES .................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................................................... 6 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND ARCHIVAL DATA COLLECTION METHODS ......................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER FOUR: HISTORICAL CONTEXT ........................................................................... 37 CHAPTER FIVE: THE LEGAL LANGUAGE OF SEX: INTERPRETING A PROSTITUTION HIERARCHY USING THE TERMINOLOGY OF CRIMINAL CHARGES .................................................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER SIX: SEX IN THE CITY LIMITS: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF PROSTITUTION IN FARGO ...................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................... 102 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 110 APPENDIX A. INDIVIDUALS WHO SHAPED PUBLIC POLICY IN THE CITY OF FARGO ....................................................................................................................................... 128 APPENDIX B. CHARGE TERMINOLOGY FOR NON-MADAM COHORT ARRESTS BY GENDER .............................................................................................................................. 130 APPENDIX C. PROSTITUTION-RELATED ARRESTS WITH ADDRESSES ..................... 132 APPENDIX D. COEFFICIENT OF SIMILARITY TABLES ................................................... 144 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Intersection of Documentary Source Data ........................................................................ 30 2. Regular Arrests of the Madam Cohort .............................................................................. 49 3. Average Fines by Gender and Location ............................................................................ 56 4. Arrest Outcomes by Location ........................................................................................... 58 5. Arrest Outcomes by Gender.............................................................................................. 60 6. 1901 Sanborn Map Data and Variable Ranks for The Hollow ......................................... 80 7. 1910 Sanborn Map Data and Variable Ranks for The Hollow ......................................... 81 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Fargo Wards and The Hollow ........................................................................................... 39 2. Map of Prostitution-Related Arrests with Known Addresses in Fargo, ND (1896-1913)....................................................................................................................... 68 3. Map of Prostitution-Related Arrests with Known Addresses in Fargo, ND (1896-1913), Differentiated by Membership to the Madam Cohort. ................................ 69 4. K Function for Mapped Arrests. ....................................................................................... 71 5. Kernel Density Map of Prostitution-Related Arrests with Known Addresses in Fargo, ND (1896-1913). ................................................................................................... 73 6. Map of Prostitution-Related Arrests with Known Addresses in Fargo, ND (1896-1913), Differentiated by Arrest Outcomes. ............................................................ 76 7. Similarity Coefficients for Central Hotel (1901). ............................................................. 87 8. Similarity Coefficients for the Crystal Palace and Central Hotel (1910). ........................ 88 9. Head of Household Gender (1900 and 1910). .................................................................. 92 10. Head of Household Marital Status (1900 and 1910). ....................................................... 93 11. Head of Household Home Ownership Status (1900 and 1910). ....................................... 94 12. Head of Household Race (1900 and 1910). ...................................................................... 95 vii LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES Table Page A1. Fargo City Justices of the Peace (1880 – 1919) .............................................................. 128 A2. Fargo Police Magistrates (1890 – 1919) ......................................................................... 128 A3. Fargo Mayors (1880 – 1917) .......................................................................................... 129 C1. Madam Cohort Arrests with Addresses, Sorted by Address........................................... 132 C2. Madam Cohort Arrests with Addresses, Sorted by Madam ........................................... 134 C3. Arrests with Addresses for Other Women, Men, and Individuals of Unknown Gender, Sorted by Address ............................................................................................. 136 C4. Arrests with Addresses for Other Women, Men, and Individuals of Unknown Gender, Sorted by Individual’s Name ............................................................................ 140 D1. Coefficients of Similarity for Roof Material Variable in 1901 ....................................... 144 D2. Coefficients of Similarity for