Terre Haute’s Notorious Red Light District

Book excerpt: The author of Hidden History of Terre Haute and Wicked Terre Haute explores the home of sin in the Sin City. Home to uproarious saloons, swindling gambling dens, and thriving brothels, Terre Haute's infamous West End was so wild the Chicago Tribunecalled it "the scene of a hundred all night carousings." Pimps, pickpockets, and conmen roamed the crowded streets where legendary Madam Edith Brown's pleasure palace was the crown jewel of brothels. Yet more than a mere den in inequity, the West End was also a community that could put bickering differences aside and pull together to help their neighbors. And it wasn't only a place for seedy enterprise, but also a place for stores, cafes, and homes. Historian Tim Crumrin presents the first complete history of this legendary area and separates myth from reality to reveal the very human side of the West End.