Entry No. 27 — the Dallas file — filed under: brothel-history
Pike Park (last trace of Frogtown red-light district)
“some 400 women worked until… ordered out by 6pm on November 3, 1913”
By 1910 city ordinance, Dallas penned its prostitution into a vice district nicknamed 'Frogtown' (for the frogs croaking along a Trinity-fed branch), where some 400 women worked until the women were ordered out by 6pm on November 3, 1913. The district was bulldozed into today's West End and Uptown; Pike Park, opened in 1913 as Summit Play Park, survives as one of the few structures left from that vanished red-light era.
The move: Make it a walking history scavenger hunt: meet at Pike Park, then trace the old Frogtown footprint east of Lamar toward the West End while reading the lurid 1910s brothel history aloud. End with a drink in the West End and debate which buildings might be the 'handful' of originals still standing.
📍 Before you go Pike Park sits at the Uptown edge near the West End, just off Harry Hines Boulevard with its own small parking lot — easy to reach but easy to drive past, so look for the red-tile-roofed 1914 field house and gazebo, the landmark structures that anchor the green. The recreation building has long been closed, so treat this as an open-air, daylight stop. The same ground later became Little Mexico, layering Jewish, Mexican, and red-light history. Go in cooler months to walk comfortably east toward the West End and Uptown, where bars make a natural finish. It is a working neighborhood park, so be respectful of anyone using it.
- 📍 Uptown (near the West End)
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 2807 Harry Hines Blvd (Pike Park), Dallas, TX
Hours: Public park, daylight hours; Frogtown itself no longer exists -- this is a history-walk, not a single site.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: davidkirkpatrick.wordpress.com · dmagazine.com
last checked: 2026-06-06