This is fantastic detective work, Jenny.

That really is intriguing. I think you've got something there. I also find it interesting that the corner lot appears to have been owned by M.A.Hall. Mary Ann Hall was a very well known and highly regarded madame who had a place of business on Maryland Ave. I wonder if she was the M.A.Hall?

Thank you, guys. If only that one darn tree wasn't in the picture!

Jim, I have a map of all the "houses of ill-repute" in Washington for a later year than 1865; let me check into that. I bet Laurie might also be able to tell you.

(08-14-2013, 12:51 PM)Jenny Wrote: Jim, I have a map of all the "houses of ill-repute" in Washington for a later year than 1865; let me check into that. I bet Laurie might also be able to tell you.

Boy am I glad I don't know anything about his subject!

My 1867 map shows that Mary Ann Hall was southeast of the Starr house, closer to the Capitol Building. It looks like she might have owned more than one house AND she had 18 ladies - FAR and AWAY more than any other house!

Haha, Gene! Don't try to fool us with that angel face...

Laurie, if you all at the James O. Hall Research Center want any of this information for Ella Starr's file, feel free to use any of my findings (although credit really goes to my great sources! Mr. Hall being one of them!).

According to the fine people at Congressional Cemetery (where Mary Ann rests), her house is where the Museum of the American Indian is located.

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Jenny, you really have done spectacular work.

(08-14-2013, 01:06 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote: According to the fine people at Congressional Cemetery (where Mary Ann rests), her house is where the Museum of the American Indian is located.

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Jenny, you really have done spectacular work.

Thank you, Jim. My map doesn't have the Museum of the American Indian on it obviously but it looks like she's somewhere between the Smithsonian and the Capitol if that's where it's located.

It's very interesting to see all of these bawdy houses so close to such important buildings! The Those of Little Note book is fabulous; in the 1860s the brothels were often boarding houses for working class women too. They just shared the buildings with the prostitutes and the madams (who were often land ladies).

I think things started to get wilder and more "Storyville-like" after the Civil War but I was surprised to find that when Ella Starr would have lived there, the area would have been a semi-working class hub with a lot of working class people living among the bawdy houses.

EDIT: Just so Gene knows the way (kidding, kidding), here's Mary Hall's house!

Jenny, your research is amazing!!

Thanks for the map and illustration. I never could have found it without your help

So many of these houses "assisted" members of Congress... If I am not mistaken, when ground was broken for the American Indian Museum about a decade or more ago, the archaeologists found quite a few artifacts, including fine wine bottles, crystal goblets and glassware, expensive china, etc. that they surmised came from Mary Ann's establishment. I suspect that they are stored in the NPS vaults here in Maryland. Jim, your mission - should you choose to accept it....

For some reason, I think the Washington Post did a short article on the findings.

(08-14-2013, 04:52 PM)L Verge Wrote: For some reason, I think the Washington Post did a short article on the findings.

Excellent memory, Laurie. The article is here.

Wonderful post! This is what I LOVE about this site - there are so many good things found and shared - fantastic, Jenny!

The dig was conducted by the Smithsonian. They have much larger storage facilities with much greater opportunity to misplace artifacts. The dig artifacts are probably be stored next to Booth & Herold's boat

Or Lew Powell's overcoat and hat and other artifacts.....

My compliments to Jenny and Laurie for their great research on Ella Starr!