Nearly a century ago in 1903, this was the small mining and fishing town's red-light district but today the boardwalk street, propped up over Ketchikan Creek on wooden pilings, teems with gift shops, museums and well-preserved homes. The City Council ordered bordellos to relocate across the creek from the townsite. More than 30 bawdy houses, most with one or two"working girls," lined the creek over the years. With Prohibition, some houses became speakeasies; rowboats slipped in on high tides and liquor was lifted through trap doors in bordellos floors.The city outlawed prostitution in 1953 and Creek Street became a mixed residential and commercial area. Star Building at No.5 Creek Street, once a dance hall, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
