An Unspoken Past

The brothels of Bellingham, Washington, played an important role in the settlement of the area yet they are rarely spoken about

Written by McKenna Kloes

It has been spoken about in whispered tones and quiet rumors for decades. For some, the stories are met with raised eyebrows and upturned noses. For others, the legends inspire nervousness that bubbles up in giggles. There’s a truth about Bellingham that does not grace the pages of city brochures and it is scarcely found in books or historical records. The colorful past of Bellingham’s booming sex industry is one of its best kept secrets.

The prostitution industry in Bellingham, Washington, had such economic and social impact on the city that ignoring it would leave a gaping hole in its history. Although it is not often said, the prostitution that took place downtown played a vital role in the early settlement of the area.

Looking at Curt Smith, you’d never expect him to be the local expert on this saucy part of Bellingham’s past. To anyone running into him while out and about, he looks just like any other 81-year-old, with his button down shirt tucked loosely into crisp denim jeans and spectacles so large and thick they look like magnifying glasses. However, dig a little deeper, and there is a gold mine of local history waiting to be discovered.

Curt Smith is the author of a book called, “The Brothels of Bellingham: A Short History of Prostitution in Bellingham, WA.” Smith sought to have the book published in 2004 after years of being invited to give talks on the subject at museums, rotary clubs and other events.

“Most of the people old enough to remember the 13 brothels that were downtown are dead,” Smith says with a deep chuckle. Smith has lived in Bellingham his entire life and his own memory of them is vivid. The houses were shut down in 1948 when he was in 8th grade.

“Every weekend we’d have military guys from Whidbey [Island] and Fort Lewis; 750–800 young men would move in to Bellingham,” he says. “It became a significant management problem. We were ankle deep in testosterone.”

That testosterone created the demand for the sex industry in Bellingham. Smith’s book urges readers to imagine Holly Street in 1900. Just past the train station, a string of beaming red lights led men to brothels lining the waterfront. These eventually moved up the hill and into buildings that now house local favorites such as Little Cheerful Cafe.

Fourteen brothel locations have been confirmed in downtown Bellingham with at least 13 others in Fairhaven.

“There were men with wages, but no one to seek affection with. A lot can emerge from that,” Josh Cerretti says. “A lot of same sex encounters, a lot of people purchased sex, and a lot of commercial sex occurred.” Cerretti is a professor at Western Washington University with a research focus and interest on women, gender, and sexuality.

When walking into bars and restaurants in the downtown area today, we experience a fairly balanced ratio of women to men. However, this was not the case in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many public establishments didn’t welcome women at that time, whether their sentiment was verbalized or simply enforced via social rejection, Cerretti says. Conversely, brothels were spaces where women were respected business owners.

“While plenty of exploitation occurred, prostitution was one of the only ways in which women could establish a degree of economic independence that was otherwise nearly impossible in Bellingham’s early economy,” Cerretti says.

The first wave of brothel regulation in Bellingham happened during World War I. Military officials wanted to “protect” young, healthy soldiers from contracting venereal diseases (STDs) as a result of their sexual encounters.

“The blame in this case is always placed on women due to sexuality. So we see sex workers bearing that burden,” Cerretti says. “They started to be harassed, hassled and inspected.”

It wasn’t until after World War II that the crackdown really began. By 1950, the commercial sex industry was no longer public in Bellingham. Any encounters that still took place were run as underground business operations.

What began as a socially acceptable vocation soon became simply tolerable, which evolved into the community turning a blind eye, Smith says. This eventually led to brothels being shut down. The red lights that once lined the streets were taken down and buildings that were once booming with the business of army men and civilians alike became less scandalous establishments.

For the first time in America, it was socially accepted to seek sex outside of marriage. This led to the sexual revolution movement of the1960s, which eliminated the need for a commercial sex industry.

“We’re now in a situation that is still certainly not equal, but is much more egalitarian than the model from 100 years ago,” Cerretti says.

According to Cerretti, many people left town when the brothels were shut down. Prostitutes left to find work in Alaska and Madams moved on to own and run nightlife establishments that conformed to the enforcement of legal standards, such as bars and clubs.

In 2014, 807 cases of prostitution were reported in Washington state, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. This is a far cry from the number of prostitution cases that occurred 100 years prior, Smith says.

Whether one is sexually conservative or sexually progressive, prostitution can be a hard topic to approach. There are some who think Bellingham’s history with brothels reflects poorly on the community. There is also the view that prostitution is an inherently exploitive industry.

“A lot of people were in unpleasant and exploitative situations, but at the same time lots of people carved out pretty incredible lives against the odds and against the expectations placed on them,” Cerretti says. “I think it’s really important to hold both of those truths and try not to succumb to either impulse pulling us in one direction or another of ‘Oh these poor women,’ or ‘These are heroic role models for us.’ We need to have a more nuanced view.”

The brothels of Bellingham’s past don’t necessarily fit into the picture the city likes to show of itself. But as communities move forward, stories of the past must be told. When it comes to the construction of history, tales of loss and oppression are just as vital as those of victory and justice.