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By JOHN WILDS V '
In an_ existence of 19 years, 11 rrjonths and 12 days, Storyville won lasting notoriety as the bi£gest, most sinful red .light district ever to operate in the United £tates.v, -i^Today f-* a half century after v.-ar-time federal'officials ordered dispersal of the prostitutes — visitors to New Orleans still want to see where the neighborhood’s glittering mansions and sordid cribs stood"	'	'
„ ^ There is hardly a re:.iinder left. Most of, the'area on the lake side of Basin street between Bienville and St. Louis
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or shopping expeditions. This horrible federal government said it vanted to
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condition of affairs had existed ' generations.”
He also said the ci cheated out of ^>: ro\ property that \ a . was drawing $1. 3 a ir. and should have been given a realistic valuation of $ 1 5,000. The property owners fought the ordinance, but lost in ‘ the state Supreme Court.
Story sa'd the removal of prostitution to a recognized area also freed the women from persecution by “protec-
protect young soldiers and saUors who had not been >exposed to open prostitution.'./ f; .	;•	•'
M?.yor Martin IJe’innan, who"'believed that the only feasible mcar.s of ccn-ir( ” ,;g prostitution was.to restrict it to a di ,rict, trii-I iij vain to work out a compromise. On pet.' 2 Behrman an- • fnounced that an ordinance ending , Storyville would bp introduced/V^i" (
AT MIDNIGHT on Nov. 12 the ordinance became effective. “There were
■' other instrumentalists who entertained;
|Hn the parlors of the bordellos. f-:> j'. ■ ..
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^’.'STORYVILLE'OFFICIALLY came into being on Jan. 1, 1897, as the result of an ordinance that did not specifically legalize prostitution in the district,
but did so by implication. The law for- be, ^ shall be fully compensated for any bade whores to practice their trade annoyance the_name may have caused
me and will grow to look upon it in the light of a reward for my efforts in behalf of a 'purer and better New Orleans.”	\
; early impetus by the black, pianists and myself. At .the’ first • I was very touchy night a stream of women, maids and,,;.,
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upon this subject and was mortified, or", porters moved toward Rampart Street'jv rather annoyed, every time I heard the "■ carrying furniture and cut glass on name. Of recent years, however, I have.; their backs and in their hands'. A few.'^S; taken it philosophically and I feel that / well-dressed'pimps^ directed the move-s -,'', as time goes on and the people realize ment. The prostitutes who had .rented,/;; what a great blessing this ordinance — furnished quarters sallied forth leading , * if properly enforced — will prove to_ " their Boston terrfers and carrying their :Jq
canary birds. All day used,furniture i/ ; dealers made their way through the -district in vans, pffering $20 for furni-, ture originally purchased for $200.;];
Some 750 whores were living in**'» Storyville when-Behrman announced('_ that closing was inevitable. About 250 ^ of these departed during the last 10 days, scattering to other parts of.New, white and black, although the individu-. * Orleans or to new cities. On the final,-; al establishments were segregated. At , day
anywhere in the city except within the boundaries of the restricted district.
The ordinance was introduced by City Councilman Sidney Story, a staid, respectable businessman, who was out- • ra^ged by the. prevalence of prostitu- . ’tion^'especially along Customhouse , (now Iberville) street between Basin i ‘and Bourbon. “The girls who worked in ] tlie large stores in Canal street could flook out the rear windows of these stores upon scenes which would make "a
' STORYVILLE PROVIDED accommodations for hundreds of women,.
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| man blush for shame,” Story recalled ’ in an interview In 1902.	■-	•	■
{■'. r “Worse still, these shop girls and the [ ladies who lived north of Canal Street [ were'compelled to walk through this reeling mass of sin and corruption when going to or returning (from work
j Carrie jsfafion visit ™
:. worries barkeepers V r!
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Barkeepers were apprehensive when •
[. Carrie .Nation^who had been known to-swing an ax in more than one saloon, j* visited New Orleans in 1907, But she £wasn;t in’a destructive mood. ■ . r' _She expressed admiration for Mayor ' Martin Behrman. “He is just the kind i of man we need in office,” she said, j e should nave more of them. If you i will just rcf'jecl you will sec that all of. f the great i;.en rarne from the common f people. Look at Lincr'in ard .look at Na-' r- poleon — he, that sr. i he v. as his own I	■■v.sd	him
• Gertrude Dix, a madame, made^-a final effort in court to obtain an injunction against the closing, but was rebuff^. ed.
, 500^ abandoned "their Storyville j the front, facing on Basin, was a row of i' abodes.1';i»;’.:’^: large, elegant houses. Best known Were ^	_	J
those operated by Josie Arlington,
“Countess” Willie Piazza and Lulu White, whose place was known as Mahogany Hall. Patrons of these mansions were ushered into richly-furnished parlors where champagne was served while girls in evenii:g gowns presented themselves for selection.
To the rear, toward the lake, were rows of smaller houses and “cribs,” one-room shacks, each with a large window out of which a girl leaned as ■she tried to entice passersby to enter.
At its height, Storyville had its own newspaper that published advertisements for the various establishments, and even a “Blue Book,” with pictures of the more successful demimondes,
Tom Anderson, a state legislator and of a bar on Easin/was the “i.-.syor” of the district.
Br-vr.'*.rs nourished until after the I’niU-c Sl=,; entered World War I in 1917. B}’ July 1 of that year Secretary of War Newton D. Baker warned the^ state and city that all military camps v. 1 3 rr,’7]'v> ■.*.* c a