Date: June 28, 2024 | Story: Rebekah Hall Scott | Art Direction: Bailey Dougan |
Once a bustling bordello in Fort Smith’s early days, the former Miss Laura’s Social Club on the banks of the Arkansas River now houses the city’s Visitor Center and the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau office. The large baroque Victorian building was first built in 1898 by Laura Ziegler, who borrowed $5,000 in loans from local residents, as women could not take out loans at the time. She constructed and furnished the space, then opened its doors in 1903 as one of six row houses that formed Fort Smith’s red-light district.
Angel Tracy, office manager for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, said travelers are often surprised by the building’s saucy history. “Whenever folks first come in, there’s always that elbow jab to the ribs and some tongue-in-cheek commentary,” she says. “But we try to head it off at the pass by reminding them that these women were people before they were anything else. We try to give them the respect now that they weren’t afforded in their lifetime.”
The clapboard building, with its mansard roof, wrought iron trim, and oeil-de-boeuf dormer windows, remained a brothel well into the early 20th century. It had been abandoned by the time the structure was selected for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and it remained so until its major renovation began in 1983.
Angel says the building will soon transition to function solely as Miss Laura’s Brothel Museum, as the Fort Smith Visitor’s Center will relocate to a building on Garrison Avenue. Miss Laura’s remains an important relic of the city’s past, with plenty to offer to the community’s future. “I think the community identified that this building could have new life breathed into it, and that’s exactly what they did,” Angel says. “Of course, it’s grown into what it is now over time. We’ve made some extremely significant changes over the last two years, and we’ve got lots of future growth.”
Illustration by Bailey Dougan
