Cripple Creek has a long history and endless stories can be told all night long revealing the truth and fiction about this place... Let's listen to a couple of them, before jumping to our today's subject, if you don't mind...
Colorado became a U.S. territory in 1861 and a state in 1876. Bob Womack and his brother William emigrated from Kentucky with their parents and sister to Colorado City (now Colorado Springs), a thriving town east of Pikes Peak. The brothers bought a ranch about forty miles to the southwest, on the west side of Pikes Peak in 1876.
Bob worked on the ranch and prospected for gold in his spare time along the southwest slopes of Pikes Peak for years. In 1874, he was told by a member of the U.S. Geological Survey that there was gold in the area. He helped a group of hopeful prospectors to start the Mt. Pisgah Mining District soon after, but they found nothing. Even so, Womack kept looking for gold for the next 15 years. He dug hundreds of prospect holes and became known as “Crazy Bob”. He found minor amounts of gold in the local creeks but nothing to write home about, until striking gold in Poverty Gulch in October 1890. Bob filed his claim at the assay office at the county seat, Colorado City, calling his claim the El Paso Lode.
Not too many people took Bob seriously and none were willing to invest in exploratory digging. A gold mine found to be fake years earlier, with salted (planted) gold, may have tainted peoples’ minds to the region west of Pikes Peak.
It took discoveries by a few other miners in 1891 to start the greatest gold rush in Colorado history. Word spread quickly, and soon the hills around Poverty Gulch were covered with hopeful miners. You would think that Bob would have become a millionaire, but he sold his claim too early, for only $300 (other source says that was $500 and a bottle of liquor). Womack died lonely in poor health and far from wealthy in Colorado Springs.
He did make one good friend though, Winfield Scott Stratton, who was one of the early believers in Bob’s story and ventured over to the Poverty Gulch area. Stratton was interested in mining and had taken some courses in geology at the Colorado School of Mines. After a few months of exploring the hills, Stratton struck gold on Battle Mountain (near Victor) on July 4th, 1891, naming it the Stratton Independence Mine. Stratton became one of the elite group of millionaires resulting from the area’s gold riches. He made history by selling his Independence Mine for $10 million. He felt sorry for Bob since he’d always been down on his luck. Stratton had once had a hard time getting grubstaked too. He felt a certain kinship with Bob, slipping him a few bucks now and then when times get hard. When Stratton died in 1902, he left Womack a $300 monthly stipend for the rest of his life. Imagine spending $8000 a month in today’s economy. Womack relied on this benevolence for the next seven years until his death in 1909.
Eventually, the Cripple Creek District created 28 millionaires, but was started as a mining camp and for many years the majority of the people there were miners, and they weren't rich by any means. Miners, who were working long hours, staying deep underground to earn their money. And, once they get the money (average $3 per day of hard work), where do they bring them? Right... they spent them on the liquor and on the women. There were three blocks of houses that made a red light quarter in Cripple Creek and one could find there a lot of women to spend time with. And... they were affordable for miners (just a reminder... $3 for every day spent in the mine). But one house was really special. Like no other. And... no surprise, it had the story too.
Pearl de Vere arrived in Cripple Creek, Colorado from Denver during the Silver Panic of 1893. When the country moved to the gold standard, millionaires, including the likes of Horace Tabor, lost their fortunes and businesses were affected all over the city. This included the many houses of ill-repute.
Pearl de Vere was well known in Denver as Mrs. Martin and had obtained a small fortune from her services to the wealthy gentlemen of Denver. However, when the first slowdown occurred in the city, the wise Ms. Pearl headed to the booming gold camp of Cripple Creek.
Purchasing a small frame house on Myers Avenue, she opened up for “business” and was an overnight success. Pearl, at 31, was described as red-haired, beautiful, strong-willed, and a smart businesswoman. She also was a working madam.
Though little is known of her background, historians believe that she was raised near Evansville, Indiana by a good family, who thought that Pearl worked as a dress designer to the wealthy wives of the area.
As it said, her parlor house became a fast success. But it didn't avoid some troubles. The original building was burnt during the big fire, but Pear rebuilt it using brick in 1895 and continued successful business. Not much belongings were saved from the fire, but one of them was a big, beautiful mirror that survived the fire, the latest changes, years... and now can be seen in the building that was turned into a museum in 1958.
Catering to the more prosperous gentlemen of Cripple Creek, Pearl’s ladies were the most beautiful of any parlour in the camp, wore fine clothing, received monthly medical exams, and were paid well. And though the “good” women of Cripple Creek shuddered at the thought, Pearl pranced through the camp in a small open carriage, led by a team of fine black horses almost daily. Dressed in a different beautiful costume on every outing, her clothes were the envy of the women and produced the desired effect on the men, as they stared at her with longing. Horrified at Pearl’s outings and the fact that Pearl’s ladies dared to shop on Bennett Avenue, the “good” women of the camp complained. Soon, Marshal Wilson regulated the shopping hours of “the girls”, allowing them to visit the stores only during “off hours” and that meant, the girls were allowed to go shopping only two hours every Monday.
Once rebuilt the house after the fire, she created the finest parlour house that the city had ever seen. Opening in 1896, the two-story brick building was named “The Old Homestead.” Pearl spared no expense in decorating the opulent parlour, importing wallpaper from Paris and outfitting it with the finest of hardwood furniture, expensive carpets, crystal electric chandeliers, and leather-topped gaming tables. The house even included a telephone, an intercom system, and two bathrooms, at a time when such things were mostly unheard of.
Four lovely girls joined Pearl in making her house the most whispered about place in town. Drawing a rich clientele from as far away as Denver, references were required of the guests. At $250 a night (approximately $7000-9000 in today's money), when $3 a day was considered a good wage for a miner, only the extremely wealthy could afford to visit The Old Homestead, and reservations were generally required. Actually, there were even more, before the gentleman was allowed to make a reservation, he was supposed to fill out an application so madam can check on his wealth and moral qualities before giving a green light to her house. I guess, now we are all familiar with such a process called a background check ;) aren't we?
In 1897, Pearl died of a morphine overdose. As the use of drugs in these houses was commonplace, no one knows for sure if she merely took a dose to help her sleep or if she committed suicide. When her sister came all the way from Indiana to claim the body, she had no idea the profession her sister enjoyed. When she discovered Pearl was a madam, she refused to take responsibility for the funeral and disowned any relations to the woman. Prior to dying, Pearl had hosted a lavish party sponsored by a prominent Denver man. He'd bought her a $800 Parisian dress. They argued that night but after her death an anonymous donor sent $1000 dollars and a note that she was to be buried in the dress. She had the most lavish funeral ever with several wealthy business men in attendance and a band that accompanied them to the gravesite. Never again Cripple Creek had seen such many people attending the funeral.
Hazel Vernon (one of the girls working in the house at the time) eventually took over running the Old Homestead. She would be known as the longest reigning madam of Cripple Creek. She sold the house in 1905. Even then, the house continued as a place of ill repute. As the mines dried out, business decreased and in 1917, the house became a boarding house.
In 1957 the owners of the house discovered many original items and wanted to share the house with the public. After extensive renovations, The Old Homestead was opened as a museum in June 1958. Filled with many pieces of original furniture and displays that tell the story of the shady side of Cripple Creek, the house is the only original parlour to survive.
Now, let's walk through the rooms and see what survived and what stories it can tell us... First, most of the furniture and small pieces belonged to this place or came from the time when the house was flourishing, so I won't stop on those but I'll try only to outline the most interesting things (that stick in my poor memory ;) ).
In the first room you can see a few interesting pieces and one of them - the spittoon, sitting on the floor. That is right, this beautiful piece of china holds the same purpose as brass spittoons so common in bars these days. The nice Gothic style chair still keeps original upholstery. The cigarette dispenser on the table is, actually, not as old. This is one of the first of this kind and made in the 1920s, but it blends into the style perfectly, isn't it? The red light above the table is the original one too. It was converted from kerosene to be powered by electricity though.
In the hall you can see the mirror that survived the fire and the most uncomfortable chair in the house ;) And the pictures on the walls... They are the pictures of real girls, working in the house.
This girl in a white dress made a great career, actually - she married a millionaire and had a life of a good woman. Today sounds like a joke... But working in Old Homestead was a way to jump from dirt to lavish life. Pearl was a really generous madam and split the profit 60/40 with the girls. So that wasn't uncommon, if a girl found a man or just moved out after a few years of work and pretended to be a rich widow, so she can start a new life. At least one of the girls, working there, decided to stick to the profession and started her own brothel with the money she earned in The Old Homestead. She became a working madam and succeeded there, actually.
The music room and the adjourned one are the rooms where the gentlemen and girls were having a good time, playing cards, singing and playing music, they enjoying themselves before retiring to the second floor, to the girl's bedrooms. By the way, this room is still decorated with original wallpaper, imported from Paris and finished in the place (only one room where original wallpapers survived the time).
Take a closer look to the original wallpapers, imported from Paris ;)
Another interesting piece here is the couch pillow, made from silk badges/cards, that were distributed in cigarette packs before WWII. Promotion, promotion, promotion...
The red room was the dining room where the girls and madam were having breakfast and lunch. Relaxing and enjoying the time when they didn't work. But some of the men were allowed having breakfast here too... but only very few of them. I guess we can call it a small prize to the best customers, can't we?
And now we are going to see the girls rooms, located on the second floor. Right, they are small by our standards today. And filled with the things every girl (especially working in a brothel) needed.
Can you see the dark green can on the table? Belladonna herb was sold in this one. The ancient potion and the first aphrodisiac ;)
And the small cylinder just behind the can is the jewelry box. Nice, huh!
Night pot is not needed to be introduced, but the "pig" next to it needs a couple of words. Filled with hot water and taken to the bed it helped to warm the feet during cold nights. Kinda important item, creating comfort. Definitely one could use a bottle... but having a special and nice pig is another sign of the style the house shown.
As mentioned before, Pearl took decoration very seriously, she even ordered the door hinges and door knobs. Who thinks about such a small thing, as door hinges? She did...
The bed in the next room still has the original covers, which was famous among the clientele because three angels fancyworked on it. Now faded and old it still looks beautiful.
Next room is full of small objects and gives us an impression of how important those small things were.
Another room has three objects that are worth mentioning. The vacuum cleaner leaned to the wall. Right... this is the vacuum cleaner and it was available at this time. It wasn't powered from the wall outlet though and was operated manually... but... I don't know about you... but I was highly impressed about it.
Electrical hair curler... There were some more in other rooms, but those were not electrical. Pearl was a real believer in progress and girls had some gadgets that were only invented. And, also the regular hair curler that used the open fire to make it hot was a dangerous tool and caused a lot of burn marks all over the girls body. The electrical one was much safer and comfortable to use.
And the last thing is the bed covers. Rare and expensive one. Why? Because of the huge amount of handy work done on this covers making these small flower buds. The sewer is supposed to be a real artist and had a lot of patience making all these small (especially that small) flowers. Only wealthy people can afford to buy one and the really wealthy can afford to give one away to a girl they spent a night or two.
The last room is bigger and looks even better than other ones. Presumably, that was a madam room. Not the room the madam used to live in (she had a room or two downstairs as her own private place), but the room where she admitted her clients.
All the dresses that displayed in the house are original and came from the time when the house was in service. So you can have an idea of what the girls were wearing when they met the "friends". And... look to the pictures, and turn the pages back and look again... there are a lot of small details that can recreate the time, so distant from our days and so unknown... The Old Homestead is the last brothel that survived in Cripple Creek and only one turned into a museum and I am not sure if you can find another museum like this somewhere else in the county. This makes it really unique.
And... visiting this place is a real pleasure (believe it or not) as the house keepers give you an amazing tour, pointing to all interesting pieces and feeding you the information you never heard before. Don't miss it if you happen to be in the area and... you will find even more details and interesting facts...
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