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In 1842, the Paris Police Prefecture extended the prostitution regulation system, which had previously been in force only in Paris, to the municipalities of the banlieue. This measure, aimed at tackling the considerable illegal prostitution flourishing outside the city limits, resulted in a certain number of guinguettes (drinking and dance halls) becoming official licensed brothels. However, the annexation of the banlieue in 1860 and the decline in Parisian brothels completely changed the geography of prostitution, with the brothels of Grenelle resisting more than elsewhere. The location of the nearby École Militaire and the large number of soldiers in this part of the fifteenth arrondissement partly explain this phenomenon. However, the persistence of brothels in the former municipality of Grenelle is connected to their history and location, as well as the actions of a handful of landlords speculating on excise taxes, guinguettes and the pleasure trade.