This image is the cover for the book Wicked Terre Haute, Wicked

Wicked Terre Haute, Wicked

Join local historian Tim Crumrin as he reveals the blackguards, rogues and swindlers of Terre Haute's rough and rowdy past.


For more than a century, Terre Haute earned its reputation as a sin city. One of the most notorious red-light districts in the Midwest, the West End, housed sixty brothels and nearly one thousand prostitutes at its height in the 1920s. Across this sordid scene strode the stylish and indomitable Edith Brown, the city's most famous madam. When Prohibition made the city bootlegger central, violence erupted as rival gangs vied for turf. Gamblers flooded in from all corners of the country, making Terre Haute's Wire Room second only to Las Vegas. Through it all, corrupt politicians like Mayor Donn Roberts profited handsomely from grift and deception.

Tim Crumrin

Tim Crumrin served as Conner Prairie Museum historian and director before retiring in 2014. He holds a master's in American history from Indiana State University and has written or edited sundry scholarly publications. He has also won two awards from the American Association of State and Local History, a national Telly Award as writer/director of the PBS documentary Harvesting the Past and the prestigious Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement in Indiana History Award from the Indiana Historical Society in 2014. He lives in Terre Haute with his wife, Robin; daughter, Brynn; and four dogs.

The History Press