The Bordello

 
 
 
A madam's room is on display in the bordello


            Many a cowboy visiting the Sporting Eagle or one of Havre’s other drinking establishments would leave to seek feminine companionship.  Since bordellos were common in the early days of Havre, finding companionship would have been relatively easy.  Prices for an evening of companionship would vary from $1 to $5 depending on the quality of the lady desired.  A trip to Havre Beneath the Streets, would not be complete without a stop at a recreation of an early “house of ill repute.”
            The exhibit occupies a space that was once a “safe house” for the Chinese, who found it safer to be beneath the streets at night than to deal with Havre’s rowdy and prejudice nightlife.  Reports also claim the space served as a onetime “flop house” where itinerant cowboys, hobos or those that had spent too much time at the Sporting Eagle Saloon, could go to sleep it off.  Numbers that still exist on the walls of the make-believe bordello testify to the fact that 27 beds once occupied the narrow room.  One of Havre’s underground passages is also know to have connected this room to the opposite side of the street.

            Today the numbers on the wall in the front of the room are used to denote crib spaces where the ladies could have entertained their clients.  It is likely that numbers denoting a lady’s space, room or crib were a common feature then as today.  While there is no actual evidence the space was ever used as a bordello, the room today accurately reflects what a bordello of that era would contain.
            In the rear of the room are two features every bordello of quality would have possessed – a parlor and the madam’s quarters.
            The bordello parlor would have served as a waiting room for clients who were waiting for a particular favorite or perhaps, the next available lady.  This would also have been an area where the customer could relax comfortably while waiting.  Beverages would be available and he would also have the opportunity to survey the merchandise.  Pleasant conversation and perhaps music would also be provided while he waited.  Financial arrangements might also have been made prior to getting down to the business at hand.
            The madam’s quarters were separate and usually larger and more elegant than that of the working girls.  The madam was the manager of the business and also the primary care giver for the ladies.  Most likely a former prostitute herself, the madam would be older than most of her girls and intimately familiar with hazards and pitfalls of the world’s oldest profession.  She would most likely receive a cut from each of the girls she employed or collect all of the money and distribute a portion back to the ladies based on the number of clients each girl serviced.  In some cases, such as with Shorty Young’s Parlour House, the madam was probably little more than a hired employee who supervised the running of the business and the care of the girls.