WIFE OF CHADWELL, POWELL C
AIC US AIR FORCE∼Legendary last Madam of the brothel in LaGrange, Texas; made famous by the book, stage musical and the 1979 motion picture, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Charles Durning. ZZ Top wrote the song "LaGrange" about the place.
Edna Milton Chadwell was born in Oklahoma in 1928, the eighth of eleven children. She was a child of the Dustbowl era and the Great Depression. Edna left school in the third or fourth grade. At 16 years of age, she was forced into a marriage and had a child that died shortly after birth. Without money or means to support herself; she turned to prostitution, at 23 years of age. Edna joined the staff at the LaGrange House of Prostitution in 1952 at the age of 23. The proprietor, Miss Jessie Williams later became elderly and depended on Chadwell to take up the administration of the enterprise. In 1961, Miss Williams passed away and Miss Edna purchased the property for $30,000.00 dollars from the heirs. Chadwell ran the enterprise until 1973 when it was ordered to shutter. This was due to the expose of a Houston reporter for KTRK, by the name of Marvin Zindler (Find A Grave#21103189). This of course, brought much unwarranted attention to the place that had operated freely in public for over 50 years(!). Once the "church base" was fired up, egged on by Zindler's reporting; then Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (Find A Grave#54196158) ordered the Sheriff of Fayette County to close the place, which was done on Aug.1, 1973. Sheriff Thomas James Flournoy (Find A Grave# 53834694) was a no nonsense sheriff & former Texas Ranger. Miss Edna had a professional relationship with the Sheriff (known locally as "Mister Jim."). If clientele bragged about their criminal activity to the girls, Miss Edna notified Flourney directly. The Sheriff had a direct line to his office installed at The Chicken Ranch by the phone company. Eighteen months after the dust up & closing, Zindler returned to LaGrange to do a follow up story. He unfortunately ran into all of 6'6" of Sheriff Flourney, who pulled him out of his car. Zindler's toupee went flying, as the Sheriff essentially pounded him into the ground, breaking a few ribs in the process.
After 1973, Edna married twice, being two times a widow. Her last husband Clayton Chadwell brought her to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived in relative obscurity. In the mid 1970's; she sold the rights to her story to Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine. That story was later adapted by Peter Masterson for a stageplay entitled, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. The success of the play prompted the film in 1979. Edna Milton Chadwell requested no funeral services, according to the family. She is survived by nephews and nieces.
Texas Monthly magazine obituary article for Edna Chadwell here:
www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/last-madam-at-the-la-grange-chicken-ranch-dead-at-84/
Washington Post article on Flourney:
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/01/07/exit-the-sheriff/2e550170-9af0-438d-bf59-757a61ab5496/∼Edna Milton Chadwell, the last madam of the Chicken Ranch, an infamous La Grange brothel which inspired a ZZ Top song, a Broadway hit and a movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Robert Kleffman, one of Chadwell's nephews, said his aunt died on Feb. 25 of complications from injuries she received in a car wreck last October.
The Chicken Ranch, which received national infamy after the staging of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway, reportedly was the oldest continuously operating brothel in the nation when it closed in August 1973, following an expose by KTRK consumer reporter Marvin Zindler.
Madam adept at PR
Miss Edna, as she was known, joined the staff of the brothel in 1952 when she was 23, but with the owner, Miss Jessie Williams, in declining health, soon found herself assuming more of the day to day managerial responsibilities of running the business, said Jayme Blaschke, who is writing a book on the history of the Chicken Ranch.
In 1961, after Miss Jessie's death, Chadwell bought the establishment for $30,000 from her heirs and ran it for the next 12 years with a firm hand, brooking no nonsense.
Chadwell proved as adept at public relations as she was at running a brothel. She established a good working and personal relationship with T.J. Flournoy, the Fayette County sheriff who put in a direct line to the Chicken Ranch so he could be easily apprised of any criminal activity, Blaschke said.
According to the Handbook of Texas, Chadwell also forbade any contact, other than that of a professional nature, with the citizens of La Grange, insisted on weekly visits by the girls to a doctor, shopped with local merchants on a rotating basis, and gave generously to local charities.
The business flourished. Generations of students at nearby Texas A&M University discovered that a visit to the Chicken Ranch was an established rite of passage for freshmen. Legend has it that a nearby military base ferried clients in by helicopter.
But in 1973, acting on a tip, Zindler aired an exposé that led to the brothel's demise.
"Action 13 received an anonymous complaint about two alleged houses of prostitution," was how Zindler opened his nightly segment in late July that year. "The complainant said the houses were operating openly in our neighboring towns of Sealy and La Grange. It's illegal to operate a house of prostitution in Texas. And past history shows they cannot function without someone in authority protecting them."
By Aug. 1, Zindler's pressure resulted in Gov. Dolph Briscoe ordering law enforcement to close the two "bawdy houses," as Zindler called them. The next day, Flournoy reluctantly complied.
8th of 11 kids
Chadwell was born in Caddo County, Okla., in 1928, the eighth of 11 children. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression forced the family to move frequently between Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.
Edna stopped going to school in the third or fourth grade, said her nephew, Robert Kleffman. At 16 she was forced into an unwanted marriage and had a son, who died soon after birth.
Penniless, she turned to prostitution as a means of support, said Blaschke.
After the Chicken Ranch closed, Chadwell moved to Gladewater and got married. After her husband's death, she married Clayton Chadwell and moved to Phoenix, where she lived in relative obscurity until she died.
In the late 1970s Chadwell sold the rights to her story to Texas writer Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine and which was adapted by Peter Masterson for the stage as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," in which Miss Edna played a small, non-speaking role as the former madam.
"It was strange," Masterson said. "She had no concept of acting. But we thought it would be a good thing publicity-wise to have her in the show. We didn't want to praise prostitution. I thought this was a story about people just doing the best they could in life."
The success of the show prompted the film of the same name starring Reynolds and Parton, which Masterson thought trivialized the story and which Chadwelll hated.
"She said the movie was a joke," Kleffman said. "There was nothing about it right except that it happened in a whorehouse."
[email protected]
TEXAS HAD A WHOREHOUSE IN IT!!!!!!
∼Proprietor of the Chicken Ranch
There weren't many professional opportunities available in the 1940's for a young woman like Edna Milton. Born in rural Oklahoma, one of 11 children, she left her Dust Bowl-ravaged state with her family in search of a better life in California, Arizona and Texas before going back to Oklahoma.
After a brief marriage at 16, Miss Milton left her husband and was reduced to earning a living through her charms and wiles. She was a prostitute in Houston and Fort Worth before arriving in La Grange, Tex., in 1952. She went to work at the Chicken Ranch, a brothel that was technically against the law but tolerated by all.
Miss Edna, as she was known, later became the sharp-witted proprietor of the Chicken Ranch, which later catapulted to Broadway and Hollywood fame as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
After publicity tours and a non-speaking part in the Broadway production of "Best Little Whorehouse," Edna Milton Chadwell spent the past 29 years living in retirement in Phoenix, where she died Feb. 24.
She was 84 and had complications from injuries suffered in a car accident in October, her nephew Robert Kleffman said.
This 1978 photo shows Edna Milton Chadwell posing outside of the Broadway Theater where she was appearing in the musical based on her past, "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas." Chadwell passed away on Feb. 24. She was 84. (Associated Press)
If not exactly beloved, the Chicken Ranch was certainly renowned long before Mrs. Chadwell came on the scene. Prostitution was legal in parts of Texas well into the 20th century, and La Grange - a town of a few thousand people midway between Houston and Austin - had a history of bordellos dating from before the Civil War.
Mrs. Chadwell's predecessor as madam of the Chicken House, Jessie Williams, had bought some property about two miles outside La Grange and was in business by 1915. The establishment got its name during the Depression, when cash-poor customers paid for services with chickens and other farm produce.
Miss Jessie also established a firm code of morality at the Chicken Ranch that Mrs. Chadwell reinforced when she took over in 1961. Doctors examined the women at the Chicken Ranch each week for venereal diseases. Drunkenness, violence and cursing were not tolerated among customers.
AIC US AIR FORCE∼Legendary last Madam of the brothel in LaGrange, Texas; made famous by the book, stage musical and the 1979 motion picture, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Charles Durning. ZZ Top wrote the song "LaGrange" about the place.
Edna Milton Chadwell was born in Oklahoma in 1928, the eighth of eleven children. She was a child of the Dustbowl era and the Great Depression. Edna left school in the third or fourth grade. At 16 years of age, she was forced into a marriage and had a child that died shortly after birth. Without money or means to support herself; she turned to prostitution, at 23 years of age. Edna joined the staff at the LaGrange House of Prostitution in 1952 at the age of 23. The proprietor, Miss Jessie Williams later became elderly and depended on Chadwell to take up the administration of the enterprise. In 1961, Miss Williams passed away and Miss Edna purchased the property for $30,000.00 dollars from the heirs. Chadwell ran the enterprise until 1973 when it was ordered to shutter. This was due to the expose of a Houston reporter for KTRK, by the name of Marvin Zindler (Find A Grave#21103189). This of course, brought much unwarranted attention to the place that had operated freely in public for over 50 years(!). Once the "church base" was fired up, egged on by Zindler's reporting; then Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (Find A Grave#54196158) ordered the Sheriff of Fayette County to close the place, which was done on Aug.1, 1973. Sheriff Thomas James Flournoy (Find A Grave# 53834694) was a no nonsense sheriff & former Texas Ranger. Miss Edna had a professional relationship with the Sheriff (known locally as "Mister Jim."). If clientele bragged about their criminal activity to the girls, Miss Edna notified Flourney directly. The Sheriff had a direct line to his office installed at The Chicken Ranch by the phone company. Eighteen months after the dust up & closing, Zindler returned to LaGrange to do a follow up story. He unfortunately ran into all of 6'6" of Sheriff Flourney, who pulled him out of his car. Zindler's toupee went flying, as the Sheriff essentially pounded him into the ground, breaking a few ribs in the process.
After 1973, Edna married twice, being two times a widow. Her last husband Clayton Chadwell brought her to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived in relative obscurity. In the mid 1970's; she sold the rights to her story to Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine. That story was later adapted by Peter Masterson for a stageplay entitled, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. The success of the play prompted the film in 1979. Edna Milton Chadwell requested no funeral services, according to the family. She is survived by nephews and nieces.
Texas Monthly magazine obituary article for Edna Chadwell here:
www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/last-madam-at-the-la-grange-chicken-ranch-dead-at-84/
Washington Post article on Flourney:
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/01/07/exit-the-sheriff/2e550170-9af0-438d-bf59-757a61ab5496/∼Edna Milton Chadwell, the last madam of the Chicken Ranch, an infamous La Grange brothel which inspired a ZZ Top song, a Broadway hit and a movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Robert Kleffman, one of Chadwell's nephews, said his aunt died on Feb. 25 of complications from injuries she received in a car wreck last October.
The Chicken Ranch, which received national infamy after the staging of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway, reportedly was the oldest continuously operating brothel in the nation when it closed in August 1973, following an expose by KTRK consumer reporter Marvin Zindler.
Madam adept at PR
Miss Edna, as she was known, joined the staff of the brothel in 1952 when she was 23, but with the owner, Miss Jessie Williams, in declining health, soon found herself assuming more of the day to day managerial responsibilities of running the business, said Jayme Blaschke, who is writing a book on the history of the Chicken Ranch.
In 1961, after Miss Jessie's death, Chadwell bought the establishment for $30,000 from her heirs and ran it for the next 12 years with a firm hand, brooking no nonsense.
Chadwell proved as adept at public relations as she was at running a brothel. She established a good working and personal relationship with T.J. Flournoy, the Fayette County sheriff who put in a direct line to the Chicken Ranch so he could be easily apprised of any criminal activity, Blaschke said.
According to the Handbook of Texas, Chadwell also forbade any contact, other than that of a professional nature, with the citizens of La Grange, insisted on weekly visits by the girls to a doctor, shopped with local merchants on a rotating basis, and gave generously to local charities.
The business flourished. Generations of students at nearby Texas A&M University discovered that a visit to the Chicken Ranch was an established rite of passage for freshmen. Legend has it that a nearby military base ferried clients in by helicopter.
But in 1973, acting on a tip, Zindler aired an exposé that led to the brothel's demise.
"Action 13 received an anonymous complaint about two alleged houses of prostitution," was how Zindler opened his nightly segment in late July that year. "The complainant said the houses were operating openly in our neighboring towns of Sealy and La Grange. It's illegal to operate a house of prostitution in Texas. And past history shows they cannot function without someone in authority protecting them."
By Aug. 1, Zindler's pressure resulted in Gov. Dolph Briscoe ordering law enforcement to close the two "bawdy houses," as Zindler called them. The next day, Flournoy reluctantly complied.
8th of 11 kids
Chadwell was born in Caddo County, Okla., in 1928, the eighth of 11 children. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression forced the family to move frequently between Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.
Edna stopped going to school in the third or fourth grade, said her nephew, Robert Kleffman. At 16 she was forced into an unwanted marriage and had a son, who died soon after birth.
Penniless, she turned to prostitution as a means of support, said Blaschke.
After the Chicken Ranch closed, Chadwell moved to Gladewater and got married. After her husband's death, she married Clayton Chadwell and moved to Phoenix, where she lived in relative obscurity until she died.
In the late 1970s Chadwell sold the rights to her story to Texas writer Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine and which was adapted by Peter Masterson for the stage as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," in which Miss Edna played a small, non-speaking role as the former madam.
"It was strange," Masterson said. "She had no concept of acting. But we thought it would be a good thing publicity-wise to have her in the show. We didn't want to praise prostitution. I thought this was a story about people just doing the best they could in life."
The success of the show prompted the film of the same name starring Reynolds and Parton, which Masterson thought trivialized the story and which Chadwelll hated.
"She said the movie was a joke," Kleffman said. "There was nothing about it right except that it happened in a whorehouse."
[email protected]
TEXAS HAD A WHOREHOUSE IN IT!!!!!!
∼Proprietor of the Chicken Ranch
There weren't many professional opportunities available in the 1940's for a young woman like Edna Milton. Born in rural Oklahoma, one of 11 children, she left her Dust Bowl-ravaged state with her family in search of a better life in California, Arizona and Texas before going back to Oklahoma.
After a brief marriage at 16, Miss Milton left her husband and was reduced to earning a living through her charms and wiles. She was a prostitute in Houston and Fort Worth before arriving in La Grange, Tex., in 1952. She went to work at the Chicken Ranch, a brothel that was technically against the law but tolerated by all.
Miss Edna, as she was known, later became the sharp-witted proprietor of the Chicken Ranch, which later catapulted to Broadway and Hollywood fame as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
After publicity tours and a non-speaking part in the Broadway production of "Best Little Whorehouse," Edna Milton Chadwell spent the past 29 years living in retirement in Phoenix, where she died Feb. 24.
She was 84 and had complications from injuries suffered in a car accident in October, her nephew Robert Kleffman said.
This 1978 photo shows Edna Milton Chadwell posing outside of the Broadway Theater where she was appearing in the musical based on her past, "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas." Chadwell passed away on Feb. 24. She was 84. (Associated Press)
If not exactly beloved, the Chicken Ranch was certainly renowned long before Mrs. Chadwell came on the scene. Prostitution was legal in parts of Texas well into the 20th century, and La Grange - a town of a few thousand people midway between Houston and Austin - had a history of bordellos dating from before the Civil War.
Mrs. Chadwell's predecessor as madam of the Chicken House, Jessie Williams, had bought some property about two miles outside La Grange and was in business by 1915. The establishment got its name during the Depression, when cash-poor customers paid for services with chickens and other farm produce.
Miss Jessie also established a firm code of morality at the Chicken Ranch that Mrs. Chadwell reinforced when she took over in 1961. Doctors examined the women at the Chicken Ranch each week for venereal diseases. Drunkenness, violence and cursing were not tolerated among customers.
WIFE OF CHADWELL, POWELL C
AIC US AIR FORCE∼Legendary last Madam of the brothel in LaGrange, Texas; made famous by the book, stage musical and the 1979 motion picture, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Charles Durning. ZZ Top wrote the song "LaGrange" about the place.
Edna Milton Chadwell was born in Oklahoma in 1928, the eighth of eleven children. She was a child of the Dustbowl era and the Great Depression. Edna left school in the third or fourth grade. At 16 years of age, she was forced into a marriage and had a child that died shortly after birth. Without money or means to support herself; she turned to prostitution, at 23 years of age. Edna joined the staff at the LaGrange House of Prostitution in 1952 at the age of 23. The proprietor, Miss Jessie Williams later became elderly and depended on Chadwell to take up the administration of the enterprise. In 1961, Miss Williams passed away and Miss Edna purchased the property for $30,000.00 dollars from the heirs. Chadwell ran the enterprise until 1973 when it was ordered to shutter. This was due to the expose of a Houston reporter for KTRK, by the name of Marvin Zindler (Find A Grave#21103189). This of course, brought much unwarranted attention to the place that had operated freely in public for over 50 years(!). Once the "church base" was fired up, egged on by Zindler's reporting; then Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (Find A Grave#54196158) ordered the Sheriff of Fayette County to close the place, which was done on Aug.1, 1973. Sheriff Thomas James Flournoy (Find A Grave# 53834694) was a no nonsense sheriff & former Texas Ranger. Miss Edna had a professional relationship with the Sheriff (known locally as "Mister Jim."). If clientele bragged about their criminal activity to the girls, Miss Edna notified Flourney directly. The Sheriff had a direct line to his office installed at The Chicken Ranch by the phone company. Eighteen months after the dust up & closing, Zindler returned to LaGrange to do a follow up story. He unfortunately ran into all of 6'6" of Sheriff Flourney, who pulled him out of his car. Zindler's toupee went flying, as the Sheriff essentially pounded him into the ground, breaking a few ribs in the process.
After 1973, Edna married twice, being two times a widow. Her last husband Clayton Chadwell brought her to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived in relative obscurity. In the mid 1970's; she sold the rights to her story to Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine. That story was later adapted by Peter Masterson for a stageplay entitled, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. The success of the play prompted the film in 1979. Edna Milton Chadwell requested no funeral services, according to the family. She is survived by nephews and nieces.
Texas Monthly magazine obituary article for Edna Chadwell here:
www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/last-madam-at-the-la-grange-chicken-ranch-dead-at-84/
Washington Post article on Flourney:
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/01/07/exit-the-sheriff/2e550170-9af0-438d-bf59-757a61ab5496/∼Edna Milton Chadwell, the last madam of the Chicken Ranch, an infamous La Grange brothel which inspired a ZZ Top song, a Broadway hit and a movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Robert Kleffman, one of Chadwell's nephews, said his aunt died on Feb. 25 of complications from injuries she received in a car wreck last October.
The Chicken Ranch, which received national infamy after the staging of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway, reportedly was the oldest continuously operating brothel in the nation when it closed in August 1973, following an expose by KTRK consumer reporter Marvin Zindler.
Madam adept at PR
Miss Edna, as she was known, joined the staff of the brothel in 1952 when she was 23, but with the owner, Miss Jessie Williams, in declining health, soon found herself assuming more of the day to day managerial responsibilities of running the business, said Jayme Blaschke, who is writing a book on the history of the Chicken Ranch.
In 1961, after Miss Jessie's death, Chadwell bought the establishment for $30,000 from her heirs and ran it for the next 12 years with a firm hand, brooking no nonsense.
Chadwell proved as adept at public relations as she was at running a brothel. She established a good working and personal relationship with T.J. Flournoy, the Fayette County sheriff who put in a direct line to the Chicken Ranch so he could be easily apprised of any criminal activity, Blaschke said.
According to the Handbook of Texas, Chadwell also forbade any contact, other than that of a professional nature, with the citizens of La Grange, insisted on weekly visits by the girls to a doctor, shopped with local merchants on a rotating basis, and gave generously to local charities.
The business flourished. Generations of students at nearby Texas A&M University discovered that a visit to the Chicken Ranch was an established rite of passage for freshmen. Legend has it that a nearby military base ferried clients in by helicopter.
But in 1973, acting on a tip, Zindler aired an exposé that led to the brothel's demise.
"Action 13 received an anonymous complaint about two alleged houses of prostitution," was how Zindler opened his nightly segment in late July that year. "The complainant said the houses were operating openly in our neighboring towns of Sealy and La Grange. It's illegal to operate a house of prostitution in Texas. And past history shows they cannot function without someone in authority protecting them."
By Aug. 1, Zindler's pressure resulted in Gov. Dolph Briscoe ordering law enforcement to close the two "bawdy houses," as Zindler called them. The next day, Flournoy reluctantly complied.
8th of 11 kids
Chadwell was born in Caddo County, Okla., in 1928, the eighth of 11 children. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression forced the family to move frequently between Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.
Edna stopped going to school in the third or fourth grade, said her nephew, Robert Kleffman. At 16 she was forced into an unwanted marriage and had a son, who died soon after birth.
Penniless, she turned to prostitution as a means of support, said Blaschke.
After the Chicken Ranch closed, Chadwell moved to Gladewater and got married. After her husband's death, she married Clayton Chadwell and moved to Phoenix, where she lived in relative obscurity until she died.
In the late 1970s Chadwell sold the rights to her story to Texas writer Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine and which was adapted by Peter Masterson for the stage as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," in which Miss Edna played a small, non-speaking role as the former madam.
"It was strange," Masterson said. "She had no concept of acting. But we thought it would be a good thing publicity-wise to have her in the show. We didn't want to praise prostitution. I thought this was a story about people just doing the best they could in life."
The success of the show prompted the film of the same name starring Reynolds and Parton, which Masterson thought trivialized the story and which Chadwelll hated.
"She said the movie was a joke," Kleffman said. "There was nothing about it right except that it happened in a whorehouse."
[email protected]
TEXAS HAD A WHOREHOUSE IN IT!!!!!!
∼Proprietor of the Chicken Ranch
There weren't many professional opportunities available in the 1940's for a young woman like Edna Milton. Born in rural Oklahoma, one of 11 children, she left her Dust Bowl-ravaged state with her family in search of a better life in California, Arizona and Texas before going back to Oklahoma.
After a brief marriage at 16, Miss Milton left her husband and was reduced to earning a living through her charms and wiles. She was a prostitute in Houston and Fort Worth before arriving in La Grange, Tex., in 1952. She went to work at the Chicken Ranch, a brothel that was technically against the law but tolerated by all.
Miss Edna, as she was known, later became the sharp-witted proprietor of the Chicken Ranch, which later catapulted to Broadway and Hollywood fame as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
After publicity tours and a non-speaking part in the Broadway production of "Best Little Whorehouse," Edna Milton Chadwell spent the past 29 years living in retirement in Phoenix, where she died Feb. 24.
She was 84 and had complications from injuries suffered in a car accident in October, her nephew Robert Kleffman said.
This 1978 photo shows Edna Milton Chadwell posing outside of the Broadway Theater where she was appearing in the musical based on her past, "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas." Chadwell passed away on Feb. 24. She was 84. (Associated Press)
If not exactly beloved, the Chicken Ranch was certainly renowned long before Mrs. Chadwell came on the scene. Prostitution was legal in parts of Texas well into the 20th century, and La Grange - a town of a few thousand people midway between Houston and Austin - had a history of bordellos dating from before the Civil War.
Mrs. Chadwell's predecessor as madam of the Chicken House, Jessie Williams, had bought some property about two miles outside La Grange and was in business by 1915. The establishment got its name during the Depression, when cash-poor customers paid for services with chickens and other farm produce.
Miss Jessie also established a firm code of morality at the Chicken Ranch that Mrs. Chadwell reinforced when she took over in 1961. Doctors examined the women at the Chicken Ranch each week for venereal diseases. Drunkenness, violence and cursing were not tolerated among customers.
AIC US AIR FORCE∼Legendary last Madam of the brothel in LaGrange, Texas; made famous by the book, stage musical and the 1979 motion picture, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Charles Durning. ZZ Top wrote the song "LaGrange" about the place.
Edna Milton Chadwell was born in Oklahoma in 1928, the eighth of eleven children. She was a child of the Dustbowl era and the Great Depression. Edna left school in the third or fourth grade. At 16 years of age, she was forced into a marriage and had a child that died shortly after birth. Without money or means to support herself; she turned to prostitution, at 23 years of age. Edna joined the staff at the LaGrange House of Prostitution in 1952 at the age of 23. The proprietor, Miss Jessie Williams later became elderly and depended on Chadwell to take up the administration of the enterprise. In 1961, Miss Williams passed away and Miss Edna purchased the property for $30,000.00 dollars from the heirs. Chadwell ran the enterprise until 1973 when it was ordered to shutter. This was due to the expose of a Houston reporter for KTRK, by the name of Marvin Zindler (Find A Grave#21103189). This of course, brought much unwarranted attention to the place that had operated freely in public for over 50 years(!). Once the "church base" was fired up, egged on by Zindler's reporting; then Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (Find A Grave#54196158) ordered the Sheriff of Fayette County to close the place, which was done on Aug.1, 1973. Sheriff Thomas James Flournoy (Find A Grave# 53834694) was a no nonsense sheriff & former Texas Ranger. Miss Edna had a professional relationship with the Sheriff (known locally as "Mister Jim."). If clientele bragged about their criminal activity to the girls, Miss Edna notified Flourney directly. The Sheriff had a direct line to his office installed at The Chicken Ranch by the phone company. Eighteen months after the dust up & closing, Zindler returned to LaGrange to do a follow up story. He unfortunately ran into all of 6'6" of Sheriff Flourney, who pulled him out of his car. Zindler's toupee went flying, as the Sheriff essentially pounded him into the ground, breaking a few ribs in the process.
After 1973, Edna married twice, being two times a widow. Her last husband Clayton Chadwell brought her to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived in relative obscurity. In the mid 1970's; she sold the rights to her story to Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine. That story was later adapted by Peter Masterson for a stageplay entitled, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. The success of the play prompted the film in 1979. Edna Milton Chadwell requested no funeral services, according to the family. She is survived by nephews and nieces.
Texas Monthly magazine obituary article for Edna Chadwell here:
www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/last-madam-at-the-la-grange-chicken-ranch-dead-at-84/
Washington Post article on Flourney:
www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/01/07/exit-the-sheriff/2e550170-9af0-438d-bf59-757a61ab5496/∼Edna Milton Chadwell, the last madam of the Chicken Ranch, an infamous La Grange brothel which inspired a ZZ Top song, a Broadway hit and a movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Robert Kleffman, one of Chadwell's nephews, said his aunt died on Feb. 25 of complications from injuries she received in a car wreck last October.
The Chicken Ranch, which received national infamy after the staging of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway, reportedly was the oldest continuously operating brothel in the nation when it closed in August 1973, following an expose by KTRK consumer reporter Marvin Zindler.
Madam adept at PR
Miss Edna, as she was known, joined the staff of the brothel in 1952 when she was 23, but with the owner, Miss Jessie Williams, in declining health, soon found herself assuming more of the day to day managerial responsibilities of running the business, said Jayme Blaschke, who is writing a book on the history of the Chicken Ranch.
In 1961, after Miss Jessie's death, Chadwell bought the establishment for $30,000 from her heirs and ran it for the next 12 years with a firm hand, brooking no nonsense.
Chadwell proved as adept at public relations as she was at running a brothel. She established a good working and personal relationship with T.J. Flournoy, the Fayette County sheriff who put in a direct line to the Chicken Ranch so he could be easily apprised of any criminal activity, Blaschke said.
According to the Handbook of Texas, Chadwell also forbade any contact, other than that of a professional nature, with the citizens of La Grange, insisted on weekly visits by the girls to a doctor, shopped with local merchants on a rotating basis, and gave generously to local charities.
The business flourished. Generations of students at nearby Texas A&M University discovered that a visit to the Chicken Ranch was an established rite of passage for freshmen. Legend has it that a nearby military base ferried clients in by helicopter.
But in 1973, acting on a tip, Zindler aired an exposé that led to the brothel's demise.
"Action 13 received an anonymous complaint about two alleged houses of prostitution," was how Zindler opened his nightly segment in late July that year. "The complainant said the houses were operating openly in our neighboring towns of Sealy and La Grange. It's illegal to operate a house of prostitution in Texas. And past history shows they cannot function without someone in authority protecting them."
By Aug. 1, Zindler's pressure resulted in Gov. Dolph Briscoe ordering law enforcement to close the two "bawdy houses," as Zindler called them. The next day, Flournoy reluctantly complied.
8th of 11 kids
Chadwell was born in Caddo County, Okla., in 1928, the eighth of 11 children. The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression forced the family to move frequently between Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.
Edna stopped going to school in the third or fourth grade, said her nephew, Robert Kleffman. At 16 she was forced into an unwanted marriage and had a son, who died soon after birth.
Penniless, she turned to prostitution as a means of support, said Blaschke.
After the Chicken Ranch closed, Chadwell moved to Gladewater and got married. After her husband's death, she married Clayton Chadwell and moved to Phoenix, where she lived in relative obscurity until she died.
In the late 1970s Chadwell sold the rights to her story to Texas writer Larry L. King, who wrote a piece for Playboy magazine and which was adapted by Peter Masterson for the stage as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," in which Miss Edna played a small, non-speaking role as the former madam.
"It was strange," Masterson said. "She had no concept of acting. But we thought it would be a good thing publicity-wise to have her in the show. We didn't want to praise prostitution. I thought this was a story about people just doing the best they could in life."
The success of the show prompted the film of the same name starring Reynolds and Parton, which Masterson thought trivialized the story and which Chadwelll hated.
"She said the movie was a joke," Kleffman said. "There was nothing about it right except that it happened in a whorehouse."
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TEXAS HAD A WHOREHOUSE IN IT!!!!!!
∼Proprietor of the Chicken Ranch
There weren't many professional opportunities available in the 1940's for a young woman like Edna Milton. Born in rural Oklahoma, one of 11 children, she left her Dust Bowl-ravaged state with her family in search of a better life in California, Arizona and Texas before going back to Oklahoma.
After a brief marriage at 16, Miss Milton left her husband and was reduced to earning a living through her charms and wiles. She was a prostitute in Houston and Fort Worth before arriving in La Grange, Tex., in 1952. She went to work at the Chicken Ranch, a brothel that was technically against the law but tolerated by all.
Miss Edna, as she was known, later became the sharp-witted proprietor of the Chicken Ranch, which later catapulted to Broadway and Hollywood fame as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
After publicity tours and a non-speaking part in the Broadway production of "Best Little Whorehouse," Edna Milton Chadwell spent the past 29 years living in retirement in Phoenix, where she died Feb. 24.
She was 84 and had complications from injuries suffered in a car accident in October, her nephew Robert Kleffman said.
This 1978 photo shows Edna Milton Chadwell posing outside of the Broadway Theater where she was appearing in the musical based on her past, "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas." Chadwell passed away on Feb. 24. She was 84. (Associated Press)
If not exactly beloved, the Chicken Ranch was certainly renowned long before Mrs. Chadwell came on the scene. Prostitution was legal in parts of Texas well into the 20th century, and La Grange - a town of a few thousand people midway between Houston and Austin - had a history of bordellos dating from before the Civil War.
Mrs. Chadwell's predecessor as madam of the Chicken House, Jessie Williams, had bought some property about two miles outside La Grange and was in business by 1915. The establishment got its name during the Depression, when cash-poor customers paid for services with chickens and other farm produce.
Miss Jessie also established a firm code of morality at the Chicken Ranch that Mrs. Chadwell reinforced when she took over in 1961. Doctors examined the women at the Chicken Ranch each week for venereal diseases. Drunkenness, violence and cursing were not tolerated among customers.
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