The Levee, Chicago Explained

Settlement Type:Vice district
Image Alt:South Dearborn Street in the Levee, c. 1911. The Everleigh Club, a notorious high-priced brothel, is on the far right.
Map Alt:Map of the 19th Precinct and 1st Ward at Chicago by Stead W. T, in his book "If Christ came to Chicago! A Plea for the Union of All Who Love in the Service of All Who Suffer", records 46 saloons, 37 "houses of ill-fame", and 11 pawnbrokers in 1894.
Pushpin Map:Chicago
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of the Levee within Chicago
Coordinates:41.856°N -87.629°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Illinois
Subdivision Type2:City
Subdivision Name2:Chicago

The Levee District was the red-light district of Chicago from the 1880s until 1912, when police raids shut it down. The district, like many frontier town red-light districts, got its name from its proximity to wharves in the city. The Levee district encompassed four blocks in Chicago's South Loop area, initially between Harrison and Polk, between Clark and Dearborn, and then the newer Levee district, between 18th and 22nd streets.[1] It was home to many brothels, saloons, dance halls, and the famed Everleigh Club. Prostitution boomed in the Levee District, and it was not until the Chicago Vice Commission submitted a report on the city's vice districts that it was shut down.

History

The Chicago nightlife district was initially located downtown in the First District. However, after the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871, it moved to the south of the city. Before 1890, the area known as Customs House Levee became a gathering place for players and pimps, and was one of the most notorious criminal districts in Chicago. According to one newspaper, Chicago was at that time considered "the most violent, dirtiest cities – loud, lawless, ugly, offensive, godless; an oversized, stupid village." In cooperation with the Chicago Outfit, corrupt city councilors "Hinky Dink" Michael Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, precipitated the rapid rise of vice in the district. From 1893 the pair organized a protection racket in which game parlors and brothels in The Levee had to pay protection money. Kenna and Coughlin formed a group of corrupt city councilors called "Gray Wolves", which was active from 1890 to 1930.[2]

The Levee District was home to many brothels, saloons, dance halls, and similar places. Chicago's first brothels were built on Wells Street. Among the most famous establishments were:

The lowest level of the brothels formed the simple houses in the Bed Bug Row, spanning from Dearborn Avenue and Federal to 19th Street and Archer. The women of color who worked there offered $0.25 services, often under poor hygienic conditions. The Bed Bug Row had a similar bad reputation to the "Cribs" in New Orleans or the "cowyards" in San Francisco.[2]

In order to receive protection, Levee inhabitants would attend the biggest event in the district, the annual First Ward Ball. There, Levee residents gathered to celebrate the triumphs brought to them by "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" Coughlin. Madams, corrupt businessmen, dance-hall owners, saloon owners, prostitutes, brothel owners, and gamblers attended the event to support these aldermen. The money raised came from the purchase of tickets to the event and of alcohol.

When anti-vice reformers protested the ball, Kenna justified it as benefiting the people in the district through educational and community programs. The First Ward Ball of 1908 was the most significant because it was the last one to be attended by the Levee's most prominent figures. That year, anti-vice reformers tried to stop the ball by bombing its venue, The Coliseum. The ball was uninterrupted, however, in 1909, anti-vice reformers worked towards getting the city to revoke the event's alcohol license. They succeeded, and only about 3,000 people attended, less than a quarter of the attendance at the previous balls. That year, reformers like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) worked towards stopping events like these, claiming that they harmed the families in the Levee.[5]

Anti-vice reformersDevout Christian communities protested at the beginning of the 20th century against prostitution and gambling in the Levee. At its peak, up to 5,000 prostitutes worked in the local brothels. Increasingly, the public became aware of "white slavery" cases in which girls from rural areas fell into the hands of pimps and were systematically forced into prostitution. An especially sensational case was that of Madame Mary Hastings, who inflicted torture and forced prostitution on minor girls in her brothel Custom House Place on Jackson Street.[6]

The Levee District's success in vice came to an end when reformers such as the WCTU and Chicago Vice Commission (CVC) (established by Carter Harrison, Jr.) publicly exposed the issues of white slavery and alcohol abuse. The WCTU had a "department of rescue" to save women forced into slavery. They also had a "department of social purity", which upheld sexual consent laws. The WCTU paid investigators to conduct studies on forced prostitution in Midwest lumber camps. This in turn helped them publish a journal on the stories of women working as prostitutes in Chicago (Levee District), San Francisco, and New York.

The CVC focused on terminating vice districts, and on investigating the conditions for women in the Levee. The members spoke to prostitutes, police, and neighborhood organizations. They published the report The Social Evil in Chicago, which included prostitution statistics and recommendations for improvement. The report concluded that about 5,000 professional prostitutes worked in Chicago, and about five million men were receiving services from them, for which the women received about $25 weekly. They were mostly uneducated and unskilled, and they had little to no opportunities for economic advancement. The report was read around the world and influenced vice commissions in 43 cities to close their own vice districts.[7]

Closure of The Levee

The difficult process to close down the entire Levee District began on January 9, 1910, when Nathaniel Ford Moore died in Victoria "Vic" Shaw's brothel. She wanted to frame Minna Everleigh for the death, but Everleigh found out about Moore before Shaw got the chance. Shaw was forced to call the police to report the death after which her brothel was closed. A year later, on October 3, 1911, the state's attorney issued warrants for 135 people associated with the Levee, including Big Jim Colosimo, Ed Weiss, Roy Jones and Vic Shaw. The warrants shut down halls, saloons and brothels. Many people were arrested within the brothels; in Marie Blanchey's brothel, 20 women and 30 men were arrested. Word spread about corruption in the government, and on October 24, 1911, Mayor Carter Harrison ordered the closure of the Everleigh Club. It was shut down the following day. Many businesses in the Levee District closed in 1911, but the district held on for two more years. One of the last brothels to close was Freiberg's Dance Hall, which celebrated its last night on August 24, 1914.

Timeline

Associated notable persons

Prostitution in Chicago after the Levee District

Although the Levee District had closed down in 1912, prostitution continued to be a problem in Chicago. The closing of the Levee had initiated changes throughout the city's sexual commerce. There were no brothels, but that didn't stop many men and women. They moved from brothels and saloons to cabarets, nightclubs and other nighttime scenes. Solicitation was still available, and the sex entrepreneurs were still willing to pay law enforcement to keep quiet.

The election of Chicago Mayor William "Big Bill" Hale Thompson in 1915 reactivated the illegal business in the Levee. Many of the brothels were reopened as hotels, saloons or cabarets. "Big Jim" Colosimo and his wife Victoria Moresco took over three brothels and control of the district. His Colosimo's Café, frequented by famous guests such as Enrico Caruso, became the center of high society in Chicago. Due to his Italian origins, Colosimo became the target of Sicilian blackmail bands like the Black Hand Gang (La Mano Nera), which increasingly threatened him. For fear of kidnapping, he sought shelter with his co-relatives Johnny Torrio in New York City. Torrio, a cousin of Victoria Moresco, sent Al Capone to reorganize the situation there. Capone began his career in the restaurant in this district The Four Deuces (2222 South Wabash).[31] The four-storey brick building, which also housed an office and a brothel upstairs, was initially owned by Jonny Torrio. It is believed that he tortured his rivals in the basement of the "Four Deuces".[32]

In the beginning of the 1920s, vice syndicates of the time moved to the suburbs where law enforcement was easier to persuade.[33] Although laws were established to control or eliminate prostitution, they were not backed up by the court system. "In many cases, the defendant did not appear in trial in which case the charges were dropped and the bond seized."[34] It was shown that even when they were sentenced, none of the prostitutes were sentenced correctly. Only 15 of the 320 cases were found guilty in a group of cases they had selected.[34] In the final decades of the 20th century, establishments similar to brothels reentered the city. New businesses like peepshows, massage parlors, and bars featuring live showgirls opened. In the 1980s, however, most were shut down and turned into condominiums, restaurants, and high-end retail stores.[33]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia: Baldwin . Peter C. . Vice Districts . Encyclopedia of Chicago . 5 May 2019.
  2. Web site: The Levee District . Chicagology . 5 May 2019.
  3. Web site: Parnell . Sean . Bucket of Blood in Memoriam . www.chibarproject.com . Chicago Bar Project . 5 May 2019.
  4. Web site: Lafsky . Melissa . The Golden Age of Chicago Prostitution: A Q&A with Karen Abbott . Freakonomics . 5 May 2019 . 1 August 2007.
  5. Web site: Kendall . First Ward Ball . The Chicago Crime Scenes Project . 5 May 2019 . 9 May 2009.
  6. Web site: Kendall . Custom House Place . The Chicago Crime Scenes Project . 5 May 2019 . 2 September 2008.
  7. Encyclopedia: Vice Commissions . Linehan . Mary . Encyclopedia of Chicago . 5 May 2019.
  8. Web site: Giacomo "Big Jim" Colosimo . Scena Criminis . 5 May 2019 . it-IT . 17 March 2014.
  9. News: Dope and Death doomed Levee "Queen" recalls . Chicago Tribune . March 16, 1949.
  10. News: O'Brien starts Levee clean-up. For first time in Years South Side Saloons close at 1 . Chicago Tribune . December 11, 1911.
  11. News: Ed White Resort closed by Mayor . Chicago Tribune . October 22, 1913.
  12. News: Freiberg's Dance Hall. Last Stronghold of the Levee . Chicago Tribune . July 23, 1914.
  13. Web site: Gale . Neil . The History of Chicago's "Red-Light" Vice Districts. . The Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal . 5 May 2019 . 2 January 2017.
  14. News: The Story of Bathhouse John . Chicago Tribune . May 24, 1953.
  15. Web site: Everleigh Club. Chicagology . 7 April 2018.
  16. News: The ladies Everleigh . Chicago Tribune . January 21, 1979.
  17. Web site: 24 Strange And Bizarre Facts About Ada And Minna Everleigh . Tons Of Facts . 5 May 2019 . 8 December 2018.
  18. Web site: Kendall . Freiberg's Dance Hall . The Chicago Crime Scenes Project . 5 May 2019 . 30 August 2008.
  19. Web site: Sann . Paul . The Roaring Twenties . The Lawless Decade. 5 May 2019.
  20. Web site: How Did Big Jim Colosimo Get Killed? – Chicago Outfit . NCS . 5 May 2019.
  21. Web site: When the Outfit Ran Chicago, Vol I:The "Big Jim" Colosimo Era . D&R . 10 December 2018 . tr.
  22. Web site: White Slave Trade: "The Paris," headquarters of the notorious Maurice Van Bever Gang . Look and Learn History Picture Library . 5 May 2019.
  23. News: Laws Force felt by White Slaver . Chicago Tribune . October 10, 1909.
  24. Web site: Member Betrays Band of Panders . 24 October 1909 . Chicago Tribune . The Mead Project . 5 May 2019.
  25. Web site: Kendall . Colosimo's Home . The Chicago Crime Scenes Project . 5 May 2019 . 6 November 2008.
  26. Web site: Ernest A. Bell papers 1876–1934 . chsmedia.org . 5 May 2019.
  27. Web site: none . Abbott . Karen . Sin in the Second City . The New York Times . 5 May 2019 . 12 August 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180312083746/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/chapters/0812-1st-abbo.html?mcubz=0 . 2018-03-12 . subscription.
  28. Web site: Origin of White Slavery . yourhometown.org . 5 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180312084017/http://yourhometown.org/page15.html . 12 March 2018.
  29. News: Luckhurst . Roger . WT Stead, a forgotten victim of Titanic . https://web.archive.org/web/20120413140931/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/titanic-anniversary/9195793/WT-Stead-a-forgotten-victim-of-Titanic.html . dead . April 13, 2012 . The Telegraph . 5 May 2019 . 10 April 2012.
  30. Web site: Bakk-Hansen . Heidi . The Notorious Madame Gaine . April 20, 2017 . Zenith City Online . 5 May 2019.
  31. Web site: The Four Deuces (2222 South Wabash) . My Al Capone Museum . 5 May 2019 . May 2009.
  32. Web site: THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF AL CAPONE . Chicago Tribune . 5 May 2019 . 26 August 1997.
  33. Encyclopedia: Blair . Cynthia M. . Prostitution . Encyclopedia of Chicago . 5 May 2019.
  34. News: Courts fail to back city's tough prostitution law: study: Courts fail to back city prostitution law . Swanson, Stevenson. Chicago Tribune. Nov 19, 1981. ProQuest. N1.