INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY, 119 (December 2023). © 2023, Trustees of Indiana University. doi: 10.2979/indimagahist.119.4.02 Toleration of Sex Work in East-Central Indiana, 1880–1900 JENNIFER MARA DESILVA, EMILY K. MCGUIRE, AND CORY BALKENBUSCH ABSTRACT: From 1880 through the gas boom period (1887– 1900), several east-central Indiana towns and small cities hosted thriving brothel scenes. Toleration existed along- side campaigns to arrest and fine sex workers and their clients. Newspapers played an important role in the toler- ation dynamic, narrating efforts to regulate and suppress sex work, while cultivating public knowledge about sex workers and brothel locations. Exploring reportage of sex work and the municipal preference for fines over expul- sion, trends emerge of the careers and migration of sex workers. In contrast to the 1858 prediction of New York City physician William Sanger that sex-worker careers lasted only a few years, newspapers reveal some women working for over a decade. Long careers signal toleration, which undermines the traditional narrative of gender-ratio imbalance prompting the arrival of sex workers in boom- towns. Mapping brothels and arrests in Muncie, Kokomo, and Elwood, Indiana, also challenges the existence of a single vice district in each city, revealing the integration of sex workers into the urban fabric. Jennifer Mara DeSilva is Professor of History at Ball State University. Emily K. McGuire is Project Manager for the National Digital Newspaper Program at the Indiana Historical Bureau. Cory Balkenbusch is the Education Coordinator at the Allen County—Fort Wayne Historical Society. The authors deeply appreciate the guidance of the IMH editors, comments from the anonymous reviewers, support from faculty at the History Department and staff at Archives and Special Collections and the ArcGIS Lab at Ball State University, and Kate McGinn at the Indiana State Library.