November 5, 2024

Notorious Fort Worth madam finally gets a headstone | Fort Worth | Star-Telegram.com
A group of local historians placed a granite stone at the resting place of Mary Porter, Fort Worth’s most famous madam, who was buried more than a century ago alongside three other prostitutes in an unmarked plot at Oakwood Cemetery.

The Irish-born woman operated a downtown “female boardinghouse” — a brothel — on Rusk Street.

In his book Hell’s Half Acre, author Richard Selcer wrote that Porter probably knew most of the prominent businessmen in town on a first-name basis. From 1893 to 1897, she had 130 offenses on record with the county court but never spent one night in jail.

Never let it be said Fort Worth forgets its history.