Edna Milton Chadwell, the last madam of the infamous Texas brothel that inspired the movie and Broadway show “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” has died in Phoenix. She was 84.
Miss Edna, the last owner of the Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas, died Feb. 25. She had been in the hospital since a car accident in October.
Chadwell began working at the Chicken Ranch in 1952, and within three years, she had become the manager. In 1962, she bought the establishment from Jessie Williams, commonly known as Miss Jessie, and ran it until it was shut down in 1973 after a TV story.
Channel 13’s Marvin Zindler did a “shocked” expose of an institution that everybody in Texas knew was there – it had operated almost continuously since 1844.
After the television report, Texas’ governor Dolph Briscoe ordered police to shut down the Chicken Ranch, and a short time later Chadwell moved to Arizona, where she got married and remained until she died.
I never actually went to the Chicken Ranch, but it did help me out a few times. My parents were living between LaGrange and Schulenburg when I was stationed at Ft. Hood, and I never had a problem hitching a ride to LaGrange on a Friday night.
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