Why do we say "Paint The Town Red"?

Meaning:

To go out on the town and have a great time, generally in a raucous fashion.

Background:

A plausible source for this idiom comes from a well-documented night of carousing that occurred in the small Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray. The area was known for its hunting, and at the end of every season young men congregated; rowdiness often ensued. One frequent visitor was Henry de la Poer Beresford (1811-1859), the Third Marquis of Waterford – aka “The Mad Marquis.” The man had a reputation, committing all sorts of ungentlemanly deeds such as lying, stealing, fighting, consorting with prostitutes, and public drunkenness, to name just a few. Perhaps his worst prank (or at least the most notorious) was painting the hooves of a parson’s horse with aniseed and then hunting it with bloodhounds. One night in 1837, he and a group of friends engaged in a night of heavy drinking in Melton Mowbray culminating with several acts of vandalism. According to History.com:, “Waterford and his fellow revelers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off of doors and broke the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint.” The event gained such notoriety that it was written up in the July issue of New Sporting Magazine and was immortalized by Henry Alken in two paintings: Spree At Melton Mowbray and Larking At The Grantham Toll-Gate

While it’s certain that The Mad Marquis and his friends did in fact paint an English town red, there’s no evidence to suggest that this event was the source of the phrase, however.

Historians feel it’s more likely the saying originated in the United States around 1883 and was a reference to the American West’s red light districts. These parts of town were known for their bars, brothels and the generally wild behavior of those passing through. The first use of the expression in print was a July 1883 New York Times article, but it became common across the country that year, suggesting it had become part of the vernacular.

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