A Promise Is A Promise...

Yes, this is a true, Texas-sized story and I did say in a previous post that I MIGHT post on "The Chicken Ranch", in lieu of a more relevant Hometown story. Well...there are some people that never forget...specifically, the crabby old man who posts on Burning Zeal.
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crabby....this is for you!
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The La Grange, Texas “chicken ranch” was a house of prostitution since about the 1840s; it closed in 1973. The story was fictionalized into the 1978 Broadway musical and 1982 movie (starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds) The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
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The term “hog ranch” for a place of disrepute has been in American slang since the 1860s. The La Grange institution seems to have started (or at least popularized) the “chicken ranch” slang.
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The Chicken Ranch operated as an illegal but tolerated brothel from 1905 until 1973 and was located in Fayette County, just outside the city limits of La Grange. It was established by Miss Jessie Williams. The brothel that became the Chicken Ranch opened in La Grange in 1844.
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Run by a widow known as “Mrs. Swine,” the brothel operated out of a hotel near the saloon and featured three young women from New Orleans, Louisiana. The ladies used the hotel lobby for entertaining and rented a room upstairs for conducting their business. The brothel was successful for over a decade, but was forced to close during the Civil War, when Swine and one of her prostitutes were forced to leave town by the Yankees.
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After the war, prostitution was endemic in the local saloons, but no official records were kept. In 1905, Jessie Williams, known as “Miss Jessie,” bought a small house along the banks of the Colorado River and opened a brothel.
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During the Great Depression, Williams was forced to lower the prices she charged. As the Depression lingered, the number of customers dwindled, and Williams had difficulty making ends meet for her employees. She implemented the “poultry standard,” charging one chicken for each sexual act. The number of chickens at the brothel exploded, and soon the place became known as the Chicken Ranch. Williams supplemented her income by selling surplus chickens and eggs.
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Read more information on the historic Chicken Ranch from this link:
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/chicken_ranch_or_the_best_little_whorehouse_in_texas/