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Gangsters & Vice
During the 1920s–1940s, Hot Springs became infamous for illegal gambling, nightlife, and organized crime. Women operated profitable businesses within this underground economy, navigating social stigma, economic opportunity, and legal danger. Their enterprises catered to tourists seeking pleasure, luxury, and escape, demonstrating entrepreneurial skill in an economy often controlled by powerful men. These women operated within a contradictory system that simultaneously exploited and relied upon female labor. Their histories complicate conventional narratives of morality, showing how women exercised agency, economic control, and public influence in a city built on indulgence.
Key Themes: entrepreneurship, risk-taking, nightlife economy, social stigma
Image Credit: Courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society. Original source unknown.
Madame Maxine Jones (1915-1997)
Maxine Temple Jones, widely known as Madame Maxine Jones, was a well-known figure in Hot Springs during its vice and gangster era. She operated brothels during a time when prostitution was illegal but widely tolerated as part of the city’s tourism and gambling economy, navigating legal risk and social stigma while exercising economic control in a male-dominated underworld. Her role as a madame reflects how some women leveraged limited opportunities to achieve financial independence and influence within an informal economy.
Key Contributions
- Widely known as Madame Maxine Jones, she operated a highly profitable brothel that served politicians, businessmen, and organized crime figures, and was noted for her extensive political connections.
- Became a recognizable figure in the city’s underground economy
- Illustrates women’s agency within the illicit tourism economy
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Maxine Temple Jones"
Image Credit: Courtesy of The Father Mohtt Foundation Collection, accessed via Find a Grave, “Dora Maxine Jones,” memorial no. 9106610. Original source unknown. Used for educational and historical purposes.
Josephine “Josie” Belmont (c. late 1800's)
Josephine “Josie” Belmont was a well-known madam in Hot Springs who began her operations in the late 1890s with a three-woman brothel on Malvern Avenue. She remained active for roughly twenty years and became the proprietor of the West End Club, located just off Whittington Avenue. She later expanded her business by opening a second brothel on the second floor of a store building at 422 Malvern Avenue.
Key Contributions
- Proprietor of the West End Hotel/Club located off Whittington Avenue.
- Began with a three-woman brothel on Malvern Avenue and later expanded operations by opening a second brothel on the second floor of a store building at 422 Malvern Avenue
- Catered to professional baseball players visiting Hot Springs for spring training
Sources: Allbritton, Orval. From Leo and Verne: The Spa’s Heyday. Hot Springs, AR: Garland County Historical Society, 2004.
Image Credit: There are no known images of Josie Belmont to exist. The image displayed is a reproduction of the 1912 City Directory, which documents her address of 422 1/2 Malvern and profession as "furnished rooms".
Agnes Denby Madden (1901–1991)
Agnes Denby Madden was a central figure in Hot Springs’ vice-era social landscape through her marriage to Owen Vincent Madden, one of the most powerful and notorious gangsters operating in the United States during the early 20th century. A dominant force in New York organized crime before retiring to Hot Springs, Madden contributed generously to local organizations and charities. He was at first denied a role in the city’s illegal gambling industry, but eventually was allowed to buy minority interests in a few local clubs and to open a sports book. He and Agnes often served as hosts to visiting gangsters. Although never the “boss” of local gambling or politics, he supported particular political candidates and gambling factions behind the scenes. Agnes, a lifelong Hot Springs resident, was not an uninformed spouse; historical accounts note that she was fully aware of her husband’s criminal past and associations. In a city where influence flowed through personal relationships, discretion, and trust rather than official titles, Agnes occupied a position of social authority, serving as a trusted confidant and gatekeeper within elite and informal power networks. Her life illustrates how women exercised consequential influence within male-dominated systems of power, even when their authority went undocumented.
Key Contributions
- Prominent figure in the Hot Springs’ vice-era
- Served as a social gatekeeper and stabilizing presence, where discretion and trust were essential to maintaining power and reputation
- Represents women whose influence operated informally, without public titles or official recognition
- Anchored in Hot Springs’ long-term social history through lifelong residence and local ties
Sources: Garland County Historical Society; Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “Owen Vincent Madden”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Garland County Historical Society
Madame Gracie Goldstein (c. early 1900's)
Jewell Laverne Grayson, known publicly as Grace Goldstein, operated a brothel in the Hatterie Hotel in Hot Springs during the 1930's, a period when vice activities were illegal but widely tolerated. The building’s main floor housed a legitimate hat shop, while the second and third floors, which Grayson rented for years, functioned as the brothel she managed. Like many vice establishments of the era, the operation employed a bell warning system to signal police presence. The property was owned by Hill Wheatley, who later claimed ignorance of the upstairs activities, an example of the era’s culture of plausible deniability. Grayson was romantically linked to gangster Alvin Karpis and later served time during corruption crackdowns that exposed ties between vice operators and local officials.
Key Contributions
- Operated a long-running vice establishment in the Hatterie Hotel during the 1930s
- Utilized operational practices common to the vice economy, including warning systems
- Navigated a tolerated yet illegal underground economy central to Hot Springs’ tourism era
- Represents women’s complex roles in power, survival, and entrepreneurship within the vice economy
Sources: Legends of America, “Hot Springs Gangster Era”; Gangster Museum of America, Hot Springs
Image Credit: Courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society. Original source unknown.
Mama Carrie (C. early 1900's)
Known locally as Mama Carrie, she operated a brothel along upper Malvern Avenue, an area historically referred to as Black Broadway. Her establishment primarily served Black visitors, musicians, and patrons associated with the Woodmen Union Hotel (later the National Baptist Hotel), a major center of Black lodging and social life during segregation.
Key Contributions
- Operated a well-known brothel, said to have been located upstairs at 512 ½ Malvern Avenue
- Catered to visitors of the Woodmen Union Hotel, including jazz musicians and hotel guests
- Represents Black female entrepreneurship within racially restricted vice regulations
Sources: Community recollections
Image Credit: Courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society. There are no known images of Mama Carrie to exist. The image shows the Woodmen Union Hotel (later known as the National Baptist Hotel).
Other known vice businesses
Several women operated long-standing prostitution enterprises in Hot Springs, managing businesses of varying size within the city’s regulated vice system.
Cora Hutchinson, later joined by Lotta Hager, operated a “rooming house” above a business at 804 Central Avenue. At times, their operation employed up to ten women, making it one of the larger establishments in the city.
Millie Tolliver, an African American woman, operated a brothel at 336 Elm Street (Broadway) near the Iron Mountain Railroad yards. Her establishment typically employed about seven women and primarily served Black railroad workers.
Other operators included Collee Potter and Grace Woods, each of whom employed approximately eight women. Lottie Wagner, a long-time operator on upper Central Avenue, employed five, as did Susie Rogers, who operated on Ouachita Avenue.
From the late 1930's through the 1950's, Mrs. Coomer and Lillian Bahre operated the Piggly Wiggly Rooms at 809½ Central Avenue, consistently employing several women. Note: Community recollections, city directories, and later accounts also attribute operation of the Pigley Rooms to Evelyn Anderson with Daisy Cooner, and recall the establishment as operating for approximately 65 years at what is now Spencer’s Corner.
Another well-known madam, Evelyn Anderson, operated at multiple locations over time, including Central Avenue, Ash Street, and later Benton Street.
Source: Allbritton, Orval. From Leo and Verne: The Spa’s Heyday. Garland County Historical Society, 2004.