Calgary & Southern Alberta

Irene Walker aka Pauline Fair, a well-known madam during the 1910's,
originally from the United States: Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection.

The first prostitutes came to Calgary when the North-West Mounted Police established law and order. They followed railway construction and served businessmen and speculators. The large male population provided an environment in which the profession flourished and many did not consider it a crime. As Calgary became more settled, however, police records began to show more moral offences. Between 1905 and 1919 the police merely tried to keep prostitutes from public view. Between 1910 and the outbreak of World War I, however, the police sincerely tried to remove prostitutes from the city.

Nose Creek Valley, home to the largest collection of brothels,
ca. 1911: Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

The large majority of the women were American immigrants, central Canadians, and Britons. Reformers, however, were largely interested in preventing prostitution rather than "saving" individual women. They focussed on alcohol as the cause of prostitution and ignored the economic, sexist and psychological factors involved. Calgary was not a city that provided unmarried women with many career opportunities. While domestic service was always available, the work was degrading, wages were low, and women had little privacy and free time. Factory work was limited and shop-clerks earned little and worked excessive unpaid overtime hours.