The history of vice in the U.S. state of Texas has been an important part of the state's past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the state's culture and its economy.
Law enforcement organizations have traditionally defined vice as including prostitution, gambling, alcohol and narcotics, and pornography.Hess (2008), p. 209. These activities, though always controversial, represented major influences in the state with some enterprises at times holding legendary status. The legal status of the individual activities has fluctuated substantially over time. Additionally during some periods individual communities and public officials have been accepting of many of these activities, even when they were illegal, because of corruption, because the activities were seen as inevitable, or often because the activities were economically important.
Though these vices have existed throughout the state's history, their prevalence has varied greatly over time. Over the course of the 19th century alcohol and narcotics became heavily abused to the point that by the turn of the century alcohol abuse was listed as a significant cause of premature deaths. Gambling and prostitution came to thrive in the frontier towns, first as small enterprises but gradually becoming more organized with gambling halls and bordellos appearing in major cities. Red-light districts appeared throughout the state with San Antonio's Sporting District becoming one of the largest in the nation. The vice activities in these districts were often illegal, but city and state officials were willing to allow them provided they remained contained in their designated areas. These districts at times became havens for criminal outlaws from various parts of the lower Midwest and the Southwest.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Progressive Movement was rising and efforts to repress vice were growing throughout the state. First gambling and then alcohol and narcotics became increasingly repressed by state and national authorities, especially during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. Nevertheless, these activities continued and for a time even grew, enabled by the public's disdain for the new ordinances. The El Paso/Juarez region became a major tourist center because these businesses were either legal or more tolerated in Mexico than in Texas.
As in the rest of the nation, organized crime grew rapidly in Texas during the Prohibition period. But by the end of World War II most of the vice districts were officially shut down. A notable exception was the island of Galveston, the whole of which remained an open center of gambling, liquor, and prostitution until the 1950s. During the 1940s and 1950s, however, many of the major gaming figures in Texas opted to move their gambling operations to Las Vegas where gambling had recently become legal. Their investments led to many of the most important venues in Las Vegas including the Hotel Last Frontier and the Sands.
Early Texas and the Republic of Texas
Before the arrival of the European settlers in Texas, the plant peyote (peyotl in Nahuatl) had become a popular hallucinogenic among tribes in the Rio Grande Valley as well as parts of West Texas and Chihuahua. Tribes in the area included the Carrizo Coahuiltecan and later the Lipan and Mescalero Apache, and even the Karankawa and the Caddo tribes. The plant came to be used for both recreational and ritual usage.Stewart (1993), p. 47. Its hallucinogenic effects were regarded with suspicion among the Spaniards and the drug was never widely used outside the Native American communities.
Gambling was a popular pastime in many parts of early Mexico including its northern territory of Texas.Dewees (1968), pp. 57–58 In some communities it was such an accepted norm that even children were known to participate with the adults.
As early as 1817 records show the presence of prostitution in the Spanish region which would become Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Prostitution at this time clearly met with official disapproval though it still took place.
As settlers from the United States moved into the Mexican Texas, new settlements typically had saloons and gambling halls before churches were ever established. The pre-Civil War era was a period of especially liberal alcohol consumption in Texas. The city of Houston was well known at this time as a center of vice with businesses that sold liquor representing one of the largest business sectors. Nearby Fort Bend County for a time registered more liquor licenses than all other businesses combined. Texas State Historical Association.
Opium had become a popular drug worldwide and was regarded by many as having medicinal qualities. Many people at all levels of Texas society are reported to have been addicts including Texas General Sam Houston and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the leaders of the opposing forces in the Texas Revolution.Petite (1999), p. 152.
State of Texas in the 19th century
Even after Texas was admitted to the Union in the mid-19th century it remained in various ways a frontier territory throughout the 19th century and even the early 20th century. Though population centers became established early they were small. There was a steady stream of newcomers into the state with men generally outnumbering women, thus creating a demand for prostitutes. Many immigrants to the state were criminals and others fleeing the law from other parts of the U.S. Texas in fact was known as a haven for criminals because of its lax laws and even more lax enforcement. The phrase "Gone to Texas" took on a notorious connotation in that it was commonly associated with fugitives.Kaufmann (1999), p. 360. This was so common, in fact, that in many communities it was considered impolite to ask for too many details of someone's past. The state held fast to an ideal of freedom which created a climate for the development of vice. In fairness, the U.S. as a whole during the 19th century was much more tolerant of vices like gambling, alcohol, and drugs than it is today, but the environment in many parts of Texas was even more tolerant. One notable exception of this was the forbidding of a state lottery in the state constitution.McMaster (1923), p. 183.
Following the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction era, lawlessness took hold in many frontier outposts, especially along the Mexican border. Smuggling operations as well as saloons and gambling houses became increasingly common. Texas State Historical Association. New settlements began to dot the western frontier of the state with gambling a popular form of recreation at the saloons for the numerous cowboys and buffalo hunters who passed through. Professional gamblers, such as "Doc" Holliday and "Lottie Deno" (Charlotte Thompkins), traveled circuits through these settlements preying on the unsuspecting. Unregulated gambling on the frontier reached its peak in the 1870s before communities began to establish more formal ordinances and more strictly enforce them. The 1870s in particular were an economic boom period on the Texas frontier because of a spike in demand for bison hides. Towns and outposts from El Paso and San Antonio to Fort Griffin, Fort Worth, and Denison saw periodic arrivals of cowboys and traders flush with cash and frequently looking for entertainment including any form of vice a community might offer. For its part El Paso, which by this time was a relatively large community, was still predominantly a way station for commerce between the interior of Mexico and New Mexico. Its largest business sectors revolved around gaming, drinking, and prostitution; indeed town meetings were held at the saloon of the town's mayor Ben Dowell. Further east, the small frontier outpost of Fort Griffin became one of the most notorious centers of vice and lawlessness.
Galveston and Houston earned early reputations for making drinking, and other vices, glamorous. Very early on, imported alcoholic beverages of every variety could be found in shops and hotels within these cities. In the 1840s German scientist and author Ferdinand von Roemer remarked on one of Houston's taverns:
Marijuana was commonly sold in drugstores and other shops in these cities though this was largely seen as a recreational drug for the lower classes. The drug was also common in El Paso and other border communities.Davenport-Hines (2004), p. 241.
By the end of the 19th century many of the state's cities had their own thriving vice districts (as did many cities across the U.S.). Galveston had the Postoffice Street district. San Antonio had the "Sporting District." Fort Worth had "Hell's Half Acre".McComb (2008), p. 12. San Antonio's was by far the largest. Though prostitution was, strictly speaking, illegal in most of the cities, it was not only tolerated but accepted. Bordellos were commonly licensed, and the businesses and prostitutes were "taxed" by way of regular fines that were imposed upon them. The red-light districts became accepted tourist attractions. In San Antonio, following the practice in other parts of the U.S., an annual guide was published for the city's Sporting District ranking the brothels according to quality and cost. Arguably the most famous brothel in Texas was Fannie Porter's in San Antonio.Convis (2011), p. 123
Though for women prostitution was often the highest paying opportunity, few prostitutes were ever able to raise themselves out of poverty, and they were always faced with the threat of violence and disease.McComb (2008), p. 10. As there were few relief agencies or respectable jobs for widows or abandoned women, there was always a steady supply of women in the trade.
Even apart from traditional vice, corrupt practices were common in Texas during this period, often enabling vice activities to thrive, especially in the frontier areas. Among the more famous examples was Judge Roy Bean, an entrepreneur who established a saloon on the west Texas frontier. Bean soon established himself as the "judge" for the region around Pecos County though the legitimacy of his tenure varied greatly over time. Among his court cases was a ruling regarding a murder charge in which Bean concluded that "homicide was the killing of a human being; however, he could find no law against killing a Chinaman".Davis (1985), p. 162.
Public drunkenness was increasingly reported on as serious issue. Texans overall were notorious as heavy drinkers. Reports at the end of the 19th century indicate a public perception that drinking was a major cause of early deaths in the state. The temperance movement began to gain a foothold as a result. Local laws were established to restrict or outlaw alcoholic beverages inadvertently creating thriving markets for illegal liquor. During this earlier period illegal liquor primarily took the form of moonshine, starting a tradition that would carry on for generations. Texas State Historical Association.
Progressive era and Prohibition
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right" border="1" |+ ! City !! District |- | Austin || "Guy Town" |- | Amarillo || "The Bowery" |- | Beaumont || "The Reservation" |- | Corpus Christi || "The Flats" |- | Dallas || "Frogtown" |- | El Paso || "Utah Street" |- | Fort Worth || "Hell's Half Acre" |- | Galveston || "Postoffice Street" |- | Houston || "Happy Hollow" |- | San Angelo || "Concho" |- | San Antonio || "Sporting District" |- | Waco || "Two Street"