In the late 19th c., St. Paul had an
informal regulation strategy that characterized the official stance toward brothel prostitution in St. Paul from 1865-1883. During those years, madams and their prostitutes were arrested, charged, fined and then released to resume their activities, with the implicit understanding that the process would be repeated on a monthly basis. This open regulation of brothel prostitution ensured a certain degree of stability for prostitutes and their customers, creating a "stable marketplace for vice" (p. 34). As long as brothel madams and their prostitutes paid their monthly fines and sought to keep drunkenness, violence, theft and other disorderly behavior to a minimum, the police left them alone. Prostitutes who did not adhere to these guidelines were subject to harsher sanctions. Those who behaved themselves, however, could ostensibly remain in operation for several years.

... and in Virginia, the 1880 census noted the presence of a large brothel, enumerating its impressively large staff and noting their occupations.

Someone should go back and explore the extent of such developments in Duluth.