“Surprisingly, a number of old-timers from distinguished families had a different opinion. Under the landladies’ control (and with the cooperation of city and county government), prostitution had been properly regulated. The girls were healthy, received regular medical attention and had few illegitimate births resulting from their work. St. Augustine residents who were interviewed in the late 1970s and early 1980s said the girls who worked in these brothels were mostly well mannered and well dressed and were not considered “low-class.” With the closing of the brothels, however, prostitution moved into the streets, well outside of the city proper and its environs. It became associated with drug use, violent crime, increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and increased numbers of children born out of wedlock. In the opinion of one matron, closing the brothels was the worst thing that ever happened to the moral and social condition of St. Augustine. The rejoicing that came with the end of that form of immorality came at a high cost.”