Quotations

Red-Light District

This term is said to have started in the early days of railroading. Layovers for stacking up on wood and water were usually very long and most of the train crews had to spend many of their days on the “line” away from their homes.

Crew members placed their red lanterns on a hook beside the door where they were at any particular time (usually at a bar or where one or more prostitutes were located) so they could be found when the train was ready to “roll”; and so, that is the reason why these drinking and sex areas came to be known as “red-light districts”.

In the early west, there were three types of prostitutes: Hurdy Gurdy Girls; Crib Girls, and Courtesans. Hurdy Gurdy Girls worked in dance halls for a madam. Crib Girls worked on the “line”, generally a row of shacks called “cribs”, owned or operated by a madam. Courtesans worked strictly on their own in a place that was rated as plush or down to nothing more than a “crude shack”.

Many of the girls were transients in the early days, their places of operations were of Spartan simplicity: a bed, chair, stove, dresser, maybe a table, and little else.

A search on the internet provided information for the following summary:

The phrase red-light district refers to houses or places of prostitution; such as, in Amsterdam, where they do in fact have red lights in the windows.

The term originated around 1900 and seems to have come from visiting railroaders who left their lanterns on the porches of the cat houses while conducting business inside.

Red lanterns were required equipment for all railroad crew members, with the possible exception of the engineer. Prior to 1900, a train would have an engineer, conductor, fireman, and two or more brakemen (brakes being manually applied on a car by car basis). They were used for signaling as well as providing light to find their way around at night.

The question is why did the railroaders leave the lanterns on the porches? Apparently to indicate to other prospective visitors that the venues were in use.

Since there does not appear to be any other verification, it is more reasonable to believe that the red lanterns were placed outside the bars or houses/shacks of prostitutes so the train crew could be found when the train was ready to move on (as stated at the begiinning of this entry).

Other Historical Quotations

History is a vast early-warning system.

Historians never let the past rest.

History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passions of former days.

Other Quotes, Quotation Units.