‘What Chicken Ranch?’

This year marks 50 years since the Chicken Ranch closed in La Grange. Some folks would just as soon forget about it.

On June 9, the Record published an article by West Gilbreath commemorating the occasion. After the story came out, we received a call from a prominent local woman in her 90s who grew up during the time when the brothel was open

“It needs to be forgotten,” said the woman, who spoke on the condition that she not be named. “All the women of that time suffered greatly.”

She said women who traveled out of town could not tell strangers they were from La Grange for fear of facing ridicule over the town’s salacious reputation

You’d say you’re from Plum or Hostyn or wherever, but not La Grange,” she said

It’s gone, so let it be gone,” she added. “It’s sad because none of the women from that time could say they were from La Grange.”

The brothel, sometimes called “the worst kept secret in Texas,” operated for more than 130 years until the summer of 

1973. KTRK television station in Houston ran a week-long series about the ranch by reporter Marvin Zindler that summer. It didn’t help matters that ZZ Top released their famous hit song about the brothel that year, “La Grange.” Johnny Carson joked about it on national television.

A scandal ensued. Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe got involved. Briscoe met with Fayette County Sheriff Jim Flournoy and ordered him to shut down the ranch. Flournoy told Edna Milton, the brothel’s last madam, about the governor’s demands. By Aug. 1, 1973, the Chicken Ranch was history.

Despite La Grange’s reputation, local women deserved no part of it. It’s unlikely any local women ever worked at the ranch as a prostitute. The key to the ranch’s survival for so long was it’s complicated relationship with local authorities. The Fayette County Record barely mentioned the Chicken Ranch in its pages until the place closed.

The newspaper ran a front page editorial in the Aug. 7, 1973 issue about the shut down. The author of that editorial would agree with the woman we spoke with last week. The closing paragraph states the following: “Enough has been said about the Chicken Ranch. It is closed. We should close the subject as well and get on with matters of real worth to our town. And we should make very certain that when some eager outsider asks us in the future we can honestly answer, ‘What Chicken Ranch?’”