NH History
PORTSMOUTH'S RED LIGHT MADAM

Driving Men Crazy
Portsmouth's red light "madam" Alta Roberts and friends pose for a photo around 1900. Clockwise: William McGinnis (Ida's husband), Ida McInnins (Robert's niece), Leona Hayward (Roberts' niece), Alta Roberts, man in bowler hat unidentified. Photo courtesy of Kimberly E. Crisp.

Good-bye To All That
Former bordello owner Alta Roberts poses in front of her former Water Street (now Marcy Street) establishment in 1933 at the age of 78, two decades after the closing of the red light district. Today, this building is the only known former bordello still standing on the Portsmouth waterfront. Photo courtesy of the Charles H. Hayward collection.

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