NEB&W Guide to Troy, NY - Mame Fay & the Red Light District

Last Update: 2009-02-18

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Mame was born Mary Alice Fahey Aug. 15, 1866, the daughter of Thomas Fahey and Margaret McNamara, according to an article by John Scanlon in the Record, Jan. 24, 2002. She had two siblings, Martha, who married Michael Myers, and Thomas, (who was struck and killed by a D&H train in south Troy in 1896). In 1897, Mame married a guy name Bonter (presumed G. A. Bonter, a saloon owner at 395 River). Apparently the marriage was short-lived. She was first listed in the Troy City Directory in 1905 as living with her brother-in-law (I assume Michael Myers) at 330 First Street.

She died May 5, 1943, when she was listed as living at her nephew Tom Myers at 2111 Burdette Avenue. She was buried in St. Joseph's cemetery in the Fahey family plot.

In 1906, the year after she was first listed in the Directory, she purchased a rowhouse at 1725 Sixth Avenue and it is assumed she operated it as a bordello from the start until her death in '43, about the time apparently the whole red light district was pretty much closed down. The building itself was between the police station and the Lincoln Hotel and torn down c. 1952. It was three buildings north of the police station.

It is assumed she took the name "Fay" (sometimes spelled "Faye") as a shorten version of her maiden name. Her first name is sometimes spelled "Mayme".

What did she look like? So far no photos have emerged, but remember she was 46 at the time of her first house of prostitution and continued until she was into her mid-'70's. She was described as "stocky" with black hair and thick glasses, but said to have worn elaborate clothes.

"Red light districts" referred to certain areas frequented by off-duty railroaders. They'd hang their lanterns outside so the crew- callers could find them. The area between Broadway and State was the most active, called "the line", probably referring to the railroad line outside.

The combined central police station and firehouse was built right in the midst of the area in the 1920's, supposedly to control it. Legend has it that by "control", they didn't mean shut it down, but keep it operating smoothly. They would position a patrolman outside some of the busiest houses on say, Saturday night. He would hold back the line of patrons, only let the next one in as someone left. In return, it is said that Mame's girls made fresh pitchers of coffee and sent it over to the radio room by means of a clothes line and pulleys.

Despite the notorious nature of the business, old-timers say Mame took good care of her girls, they were clean and healthy. At the time, about the only other employment option for women was menial labor or working in the collar sweatshops. Mame is supposed to have always been trying to recruit new talent. She would engage in conversation with an attractive shop girl and ask how much she made. When the girl said $18 a week, Mame would offer them $100 a week.

It is also said that the numerous religious organizations operated "homes for wayward girls" along with orphanages (including two of the buildings that RPI later purchased, Mason Labs and the People's Avenue Complex). If a prostitute found herself pregnant, she would get admitted to one of these places until she gave birth, and the child cared for until it could be adopted. In this way, supposedly these well-meaning organizations enabled the red-light district.

The women often hung out in the local bars. Most notorious was Gainor's, on Broadway just opposite the train depot. In the '30's, there was a "top 40's" song, "Old Shanty Town", about a bar "set right back 25 feet from the railroad track" where there's "a queen waiting there in a rocking chair, blowing her top on Gainor's beer".

Fitness instructors at RPI are told that years ago, whenever a school bus was taking the basketball team to an away game, it would have to stop at one of the local brothels to pick up many of the team members on the way out of Troy.

There is a story about a practical joke played on one of the girls in later years. Her electricity was connected to the nearby crossing gate circuit, so when the gate dropped and the flashers came on, all the lights in her house flashed. (Great story, but I don't know of any grade crossing flashers used in the downtown area - all the crossings were flagged, at least in the era when the red light district was in full swing.)

One of our visitors said he heard a family relative, who worked on the Cohoes police force, talk about his first day on the job. He was sent to Troy to retrieve a body of some prominent Cohoes citizen who had died in one of the brothels - the idea being to do it discretely so as not to cause any scandal. Ed Keyes of Lansingburgh told Scanlon that when anyone died in the arms of one of Mame's girls, "they were reported as having collapsed in the baggage rooms of the Troy Union Depot."

Chuck Nygard remembers someone (who he can't remember) told him that one time a train was made up in Troy and ready to depart for New York City when Mame Fay or one of the other madames got on and demanded the train not leave until she had a chance to find a patron who had slipped out of her house without paying. She did find, he paid under duress, and the train was allowed to depart.

One RPI alumni told us he grew up as a "hick" (as he described himself) and came to RPI in 1941. As the train was crawled on Sixth Avenue as it slowed down for the depot, he said he was surprised to see all these young woman waving to him from the upper stories of the row houses. He said to himself "Oh, what a friendly place Troy is!" (Little did he know!)

We've been told that when the Navy took over RPI during WWII for a crash course for their engineers, they told the city fathers to either close the red light district or they would pull out of the RPI and take with them all their financial resources. After this, the red light district operated much more secretly.

The city bigwigs were big patrons of the ladies, and in return, they would expect them to vote their way. They didn't trust the ladies to get to the polls, so they would gather them all up at 4 am and take them to the police station, where the voting was taking place. They had to get them there at the end of the ladies' shift, and get them out before 6 am, when the Sisters all voted.

one time the girls dwaddled and where there when the good Sisters arrived. Tempers flared and the meeting turned to fistcuffs, with even the Sisters getting in a few good punches.

It was said that even as far away as New Haven, CT, men would only have to say they were taking a weekend trip to Troy as an euphemism greeted with a knowing wink.

There is a widely reported story about a Japanese PT boat captured during WWII. The skipper spoke pretty good English, and asked the American skipper where he was from. When told "Troy, NY", the Japanese skipper shouted "Mame Fay, Mame Fay!" Seems he had attended RPI years earlier.

Independent filmmakers and RPI graduates Annmarie Lanesey & Penny Lane want to build a link to Mame Faye's past and her long departed nationally infamous brothels. Visit their web site (http://www.p-lane.com/mamefaye.html) for more info. And if you have any stories or other info about the above, please contact us and/or Annmarie Lanesey.