Lou Graham (Seattle madame)

Lou Graham (1861 - 1903), born Dorothea Georgine Emile Ohben, was a German-born woman who became famous as the madame of a brothel in what is now the Pioneer Square district of Seattle, Washington, USA Priscilla Long, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2762 Madame Lou Graham arrives in Seattle in February 1888] , HistoryLink, January 1, 2000. Accessed 6 July 2006.] M.L. Lyke, [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/45170_skukum03.shtml The Misadventures of Skukum Kilay, Chapter Three: The Grand Madame] , "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", November 3, 2001. This is a work of fiction, but "The grand madame, Lou Graham, is real, but her journal is a fabrication." Accessed 6 July 2006.] the "undisputed Queen of the Lava Beds".J. Kingston Pierce, [http://away.com/primedia/pol_soc/pioneer_2.adp Seattle's Pioneer Square] (page 2), Primedia Publications. Accessed 6 July 2006.] She became one of the city's wealthiest citizens before dying in her early forties.

Graham in Seattle

Graham arrived in Seattle in 1888; the city, barely three decades old, was at the tail end of a period (from November 23, 1883 until a series of court decisions in 1887–1888 [Speidel, p. 285, 288.] ) in which women's suffrage had led to a triumph of "reform" politics in Seattle: monied interests were voted out of political office, liquor licenses revoked, brothels closed, and laws strictly enforced. The result for this frontier economy was, in the words of local popular historian Bill Speidel, that "The fines and licenses on liquor, gambling and prostitution that had been the major source of income for the operation of the city dwindled to almost nothing." [Speidel, p. 285-287.]

Graham proposed to a number of the city's leading businessmen the establishment of a brothel comparable in prices and quality to the city's finest hotels, with prices openly posted (as against charging what the traffic would bear from night to night), staffed by women who would be (Speidel's words again here) "gorgeous…, talented…, … [and] who could discuss the opera, or politics, or economics, or world conditions on an intelligent level with the leaders of America. [Speidel, p. 288-291.]

With their investment, she purchased the property at the corner of Third and Washington. Her first building was shortlived: it burned in the Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, but she had already profited sufficiently to rebuild in stone after the fire. In less than 18 months, she had done well enough to expand significantly: her initial parcel of land had cost $3,000. The larger parcel she bought after the fire cost $25,000. [Speidel, p. 292-293.]

She established the young city's most refined parlor house at the southwest corner of 3rd Avenue South and South Washington Street, "a discreet establishment for the silk-top-hat-and-frock-coat set to indulge in good drink, lively political discussions and, upstairs, ribald pleasures -- all free to government representatives." Speidel, in his history of early Seattle "Sons of the Profits", remarks that in her heyday "More city business was transacted at Lou's than at City Hall." [Speidel, p. 294.] The building survives as the Washington Court Building, 221 South Washington Street and houses, among other things, part of the Union Gospel Mission. [Speidel, p. 295.]

During the period of Graham's ascendancy, Seattle wavered back and forth between "open city" and "closed city" policies. Lou's establishment closed briefly during one 1890 "closed city" extreme, but soon bounced back. [Speidel, p. 294-295.] On February 14, 1891, a rookie policeman involved in a general crackdown on prostitution (something of a "Wild West" atmosphere had returned to the tideflats), arrested Graham, unaware of who she was. The result was acquittal in a jury trial, and (according to Speidel) the subsequent resignation of reform mayor Henry White. [Speidel, p. 300-304.]

For the rest of her life, Lou's brothel remained an institution: "No young businessman was really considered a man about town until he could discuss with ease the interior decorations of Lou's establishment... and some of the finer points of the distinguished young ladies…" [Speidel, p. 299.]

Character and legacy

Speidel describes Lou Graham as "regal",

…about five feet, two inches... and at chest height, she was about three feet thick. She went for plumed hats and smart carriages… Lou stood for integrity in her field... and a kind of class that couldn't be matched outside of the other major cities of the world like San Francisco, New York, London, Paris. She was a first-rate businesswoman… [who] invested heavily and profitably in the stock market. [Speidel, p. 283-284.]

By the time Graham died of syphilis in San Francisco at the age of 42 or 43, Graham had become a wealthy landowner, one of the largest landholders in the Pacific Northwest. She owned one of the Seattle's great mansions (2106 E. Madison Street, demolished in 1966 [Speidel, p. 298.] ) and "contributed liberally" to projects sponsored by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, contributing more money to the education of the city's children than the rest of the city's prominent early citizens combined. [Speidel, p. 283-284.] After the Panic of 1893, her loans saved some of the city's most prestigious families from bankruptcy. She left her estate to relatives in Germany.

Notes

References

*cite book|last=Speidel|first=Bill|chapter=The Hostess With the Mostest|pages=283-304|title=Sons of the Profits|year=1967|location=Seattle|publisher=Nettle Creek|id=ISBN 0-914890-00-X An entire chapter "The Hostess With the Mostest", (p. 283-304) is dedicated to Graham.

External links

* [http://www.seattlechannel.org/media/EccentricSeattleOct04.htm Episode about Lou Graham] (October 2004) on J. Kingston Pierce's video series "Eccentric Seattle", on the City of Seattle's web site.