Burnt District, Omaha

The Burnt District was the original red light district in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 19th century. The area was located east of Creighton University from Douglas Street six blocks north to Cass Street and from the Missouri River west to Sixteenth Street.

It was the location of several notorious brothels, with more than 100 establishments employing 1,600 sex workers. Particularly popular during a depression which struck Omaha in the 1890s, the Burnt District was a predecessor of Tom Dennison's Sporting District.

About

Omaha's Burnt District was a particular area of downtown where most of the city's brothels were located. The most notorious of the brothels was called "the Cribs", and consisted of rows of shacks with alleyways filled with young girls. Contemporary estimates placed the number of sex workers at over 1,600 women. A man named M. F. Martin owned several of the properties in the Burnt District. The brothels did not work in secret; there were actually large windows through which observers could peer into the acts going on therein.