Vice Zone – Ordinance #3 - Minot – 1897

 The third ordinance to be passed by the early Minot City Council in 1897 read: No persons shall in the City of Minot keep a “bawdy-house” or house of ill fame or other houses or buildings for the resort of prostitutes, or other persons for the purpose of prostitution… since this ordinance was passed in 1897 it would suggest the vice was considered a problem even then. The very first vice district it seems sprang up in a large coulee west of Minot, (the area now occupied by the Municipal Auditorium). When the occupants were forced out the next area in the late 1880’s was a separate area, like a small town, south of the city which disappeared about 1900. Things then got so bad in the west side of Downtown Minot, (First St SW) in the area of the now Federal building that a new ordinance was passed making it illegal to rent or own a house for questionable purposes. This ultimately forced the vice zone to the outside of Minot at the time to the area that eventually became known as Minot’s High Third Street.