Miss Laura's Social Club -- Ft Smith AR
N 35° 23.521 W 094° 25.750
15S E 370206 N 3917455
Miss Laura's Social Club is the only bordello listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it still welcomes tourists to town, just in a different, more family-friendly way.
Waymark Code: WMN7XH
Location: Arkansas, United States
Date Posted: 01/15/2015
Views: 6
Delicately alluded to in the National Register Nomination Form, The Commercial Hotel was a notorious bordello from the late 19th to the mid 20th century, from when Fort Smith was a border town near the mostly-lawless Indian Territory to the end of WWII.
The nomination form can be found by visiting this link to Preservation Arkansas: (
visit link)
The National Park Service is less delicate about the history of this famously bawdy place: (
visit link)
"MISS LAURA'S
Built in 1896, the Riverfront Commercial Hotel remained in business for only two years. In 1898, Laura Ziegler of Vermont purchased the building and after remodeling, re-opened it as a brothel in 1903. Prostitution was legal in Fort Smith until 1924 and Ziegler’s house was one of seven houses known as “the Row” in the busy red-light district. Miss Laura’s Social Club was considered the best. The girls were high class and well dressed and Zeigler made sure they were healthy. Miss Laura’s was known as the “Queen of the Row” and charged three times as much as the other establishments.
Zeigler operated the brothel until public sentiment turned against the businesses on the Row. Zeigler sold the house at 123 First Street in 1911 to Bertha “Big Bertha” Dean who operated the brothel until her death in 1948. It was abandoned until purchased in 1963 by Donald Reynolds, founder of Donrey Media Group, and saved from destruction.
In 1973 Miss Laura’s Social Club was selected for the National Register of Historic Places and was the only brothel on the Register. Restoration began in 1983, and a new era dawned for Miss Laura’s. During the 1980s it became known as Miss Laura’s Social Club and Restaurant and was an elegant dining experience in Fort Smith. After the restaurant closed Miss Laura’s became Fort Smith’s Visitor Center. A sturdy looking square dark green Victorian building with a mansard roof and oeil-de-boeuf (eye of the ox) dormer windows Miss Laura’s is highly visible today near the banks of the busy Arkansas River in downtown Fort Smith. Once one of the most famous bordellos in the region; Miss Laura’s has found a new role welcoming visitors to Fort Smith."
Visit Instructions:As a suggestion for your visit log, please make every effort to supply a brief-to-detailed note about your experience at the Waymark. If possible also include an image that was taken when you visited the Waymark. Images can be of yourself, a personal Waymarking signature item or just one of general interest that would be of value to others. Sharing your experience helps promote Waymarking and provides a dynamic history of your adventures.