The Sex Workers of the Wild West

Images of our Wild West past often evoke the work of men: miners, railroad titans, fur trappers, cowboys, and land speculators who wandered the dusty streets of early Denver. But on those same streets we now call LoDo, women were at work, too — businesswomen known as madams ran parlor houses and brothels that catered to a growing city. While life for these women may have seemed glamorous, the sex workers they employed often inhabited a much darker existence. Host Bree Davies sits down with History Colorado’s Assistant Curator of Serials, Ann Sneesby-Koch, to dig into the nuanced, complicated, and fascinating world of early sex work in late 1800s Denver.

Bree mentioned the Denver Art Museum’s decision to take Emma Bunker’s name off a gallery; be sure to check out our episode with Denver Post investigative reporter Sam Tabachnik, who broke the story last year. 

Read more on the transfer of bison to the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. 

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