Historic Whores with Old Pros: Mary Baker & Alta Roberts

Mary Baker & Alta Roberts: The Infamous Madams of Water Street in Portsmouth, NH

Mary Amazeen Baker and Alta Warren Roberts, infamous madams of Water Street, were dear friends and colleagues. Operating houses near each other in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Mary and Alta were well-known for their enduring commitments to the community and their different but equally compelling reputations about town.

Known for being the elegant bordello owner with diamonds on her front teeth, Mary Amazeen Baker (1859 – 1930) was the owner of Portsmouth’s most famous brothel, the Gloucester House of Ill Repute. It was located along the city’s waterfront, which today is a public park in the historic district on Marcy Street. The Gloucester House of Ill Repute sat opposite the Walker Coal Company, at the corner of what was then  State and Water Street.

Mary was born June 19, 1859 in Newcastle, New Hampshire. Her mother hailed from Nova Scotia.Her father, a New Hampshire local, descended from a line of Dutch, Greek, and Italian sailors, merchants, and pirates who arrived along the eastern seaboard in the 16th century. The archive doesn’t reveal much about her early years, but we can see Mary married Allen Baker in 1889.

Together they opened the Gloucester House in 1897. Local real estate tycoon Frank Jones originally owned the building, and in 1902, Mary purchased it from his estate. Some local historians believe that Allen did not care for prostitution, though he operated a famous ice cream parlor in front of the house. Neighborhood children loved visiting Allen’s parlor for ice cream, but also to catch a glimpse of Mary Baker and her extravagant clothing, jewelry, and of course, the diamonds in her teeth.

Mary Baker’s brothel was one of a dozen in the red-light district. Madam Alta Roberts (1855 – 1940), who owned a brothel at 14-16 Water Street, referred to Mary as her “old friend from college,” and was known as the “Black Mystery of Water Street” because of her penchant for wearing all black dress. Alta rarely left her Water Street residence, and although she didn’t share in the extravagance of Mary, Alta did don gold casings, similar to what we might call grills today, over her two front teeth.

Born in Maine, Alta moved to Portsmouth in 1897. She married Frank Roberts and they shared the vaudeville stage in the 1880s. After his death, Alta worked in a Massachusetts textile mill until she returned to Portsmouth in 1897. Known as “a tough broad, but pleasant,” town residents frequently spoke of her generosity.

16 Water Street served as Alta Roberts’ residence, while the first two floors of her property at 14 Water Street were  the bordello, and folks who had no other place to go found space on the third floor. She fed hungry families, supported local education, and when the Saint John Episcopal Church lost its golden chalice in a robbery, Madam Alta replaced it.

Portsmouth residents recalled the beauty of Mary and Alta’s well-dressed working girls. Mary proudly loaded her girls into a carriage for all to see. Both infamous madams provided health care. To comply with local laws Alta enforced monthly health visits and Mary provided weekly doctor visits for her employees. Obviously, requiring health checks is really different from providing healthcare, and workers have an interest in protecting themselves from disease-but this is how this was done at the time. It's a good example of why decriminalization and free access to healthcare is better than regulations which require STI checks, like what we see in the Nevada brothels today.

The working girls’ beauty and health consciousness attracted sailors, businessmen, police, and politicians to both brothels, which sustained the presence of the red-light district.

However, this political acceptance didn’t last long into the early 20th century. Police raids became the norm as Progressive Era reformers worked diligently to eliminate vice. Mary and Alta were arrested at least once for operating a disorderly house, and Mary was also charged with “recruiting minors for prostitution.” The court required both women to pay small fines, and a local judge once ordered Mary to leave town. Of course, she did not. Mary’s husband Allen, of ice cream fame, was arrested for “violation of license,” but local courts enforced no punishment.

Police raids in the light red-light district increased in 1911, and by 1912, all the brothels had closed. Buildings that once housed bordellos turned into grocery stores, other shops, and legitimate boarding houses. In 1936, Madam Mary’s Gloucester House was auctioned, sold, and eventually demolished to eliminate “seedy buildings” and restore the waterfront. Only a portion of Madam Alta’s home at 16 Water Street still stands (which is now listed as 57 Marcy Street) and a historic marker pays homage to the brothel that once was infamous.

These women built businesses that made an effort to take care of their employees and community as best they could. Shutting down the brothels made sex workers more vulnerable to violence and exasperated the STI problems that legislators and moralists were trying to solve. Allowing sex workers to work together, seek medical care, and negotiate for their safety and health improves the safety and health of not just sex workers, but the entire community. Efforts to eradicate the oldest profession only push the entire profession further underground.