Martha Quinn Fentress. The creation of Storyville was meant to bring regulation to the sex trade and organized crime. The creation of the sixteen blocks of the district was influenced by a diverse range of experiences, ranging from cheap "cribs," vibrant music halls, saloons, and lavish mansions filled with "top dollar" ladies.
The Storyville district is estimated to have boasted approximately brothels and nearly 2, sex workers during the height of its popularity. The district was not only known for its sex work, however. In addition, it was also well-known for the solid feminist entrepreneurship seen from the women who ran the high-end brothels, such as LuLu White and Josie Arlington.
In fact, there are historians who argue that Storyville allowed for some of the first entrepreneurial women in New Orleans at a time when there were no other options. Storyville is also considered groundbreaking for a vibrant music scene that allowed musicians, such as Jelly Roll Morton, to gain popularity Permenter, However, after Storyville was abolished in , New Orleans started slowly removing all buildings and disguising the fact that the district ever existed.
While Storyville operated, the brothels would produce promotional postcards, guidebooks, and cameos of the girls. But, over the decades, many of these items have been considered lost or destroyed; most exist in few dedicated archives. But, if you are walking around the city, you will not find any standing buildings and very little information about its history.
Further, some people that grew up in New Orleans do not even know the area ever existed, which leads more to its lore Permenter, DOI: Advanced Search. Privacy Copyright. Sponsored by the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries. SLIS Connecting. Storyville: A Study of Artifacts.
