Stall Saloons (Eroding Winds)

In the early 1890s, this building was occupied by a “stall saloon.” These were bars where sex was on the bill of fare, with the carnal transactions taking place behind a so-called stall. It was a generous description for what was often nothing more than a flimsy partition or simply a curtain. Other, more elaborate, stalls resembled cubicles. An extravagant stall might even have a door. Most often, the stalls resided in the rear of the barroom near a doorway to an alley. The arrangement allowed sex workers to slip undetected in and out of the various stall saloons.

Oshkosh was home to at least a dozen such saloons with no fewer than eight of them doing business on Main Street. And though campaigns against the stalls were waged, the feature proved difficult to extinguish. By the late 1890s, Oshkosh had become notorious throughout the state for its stall saloons. Some found the situation utterly shocking. A visiting San Francisco police officer was caused to remark, “I am amazed at the things permitted here in Oshkosh. I have never seen anything equal to it in any western city.”