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March 11, 2024

1873 Mings Hotel 101 South Holden Arson Fire Kills 4 Guests One Saved by Jumping from the Third Story with An Umbrella

West Pine Street Fire Station No.1  Today the building houses Those Were the Days.
SAVED BY An Umbrella- Ming Hotel Fire
There was not even a rope fire-escape in his room on the second floor which Felix Kraemer, a salesman for Steinway & Sons, of New York, occupied; and had it not been for Kraemer experience at hotel fires and an umbrella he probably would have been numbered among the victims. Had not I had a strong umbrella I should either have been burned or killed by jumping," said Mr. Kraemer. I have been burned out at hotels three times now. I was burned out at a hotel at Warrensburg, MO., and also at Elsworth, Kan., and I learned something about how to act when at a fire on those two occasions. At the fire in Warrensburg a guest escaped by using an open umbrella to ease his plight from an upper story window I never forgot the way in which he escaped and since have always been provided with a strong umbrella for emergency. 
As soon as I reached the window I opened my strong umbrella and carefully put a shawl strap over it to prevent it from turning inside out then I made a leap. I did not go sailing gracefully out into the air and landed lightly on the ground beneath, but I landed without any broken limb and am alright now. The umbrella partially turned Inside out just before I reached the ground and I got something of a jar, but I should think myself lucky if I had escaped with a broken leg.


Warrensburg Fire Department about 1900
James Lester Prouty, b. Nov. 13, 1851. James, was burned to death at the age of twenty-two years while on his way to attend the Normal School he perished in the fire which destroyed Mings Hotel, Nov., 1873. 4 people died. Warrensburg Missouri, 101 South Holden Street.



THE WARRENSBURG FIRE TRAGEDY. 

Warrensburg, Mo., Nov. 13, A serious conflagration occurred in this city last night, commencing at '9 o'clock, and burning the Mings Hotel and two brick buildings belonging to H. F. Clark, and the Johnson County Savings bank. The fire originated in the lamp room of the hotel, from the explosion of a coal-oil lamp, and soon the flames enveloped the whole building. Sad to relate it was the fire devils preying upon human bodies. Three bodies were taken from the burning embers last night. Another body is missing. 

 
THE DEAD - M. E. MULVEHILL. The deaths and losses are summed up as follows: M. E. Mulvehill, proprietor of the hotel, was sitting in the hotel office at the time of the fire and at the alarm of fire hastened to the scene, and in making his exit was smothered or choked to death by the smoke and flames. His body was taken from the debris charred and crisped at 1 o'clock A. M. It was found in the ruins of the hotel office.

J. W. POLAND. The next body recovered was that of J. W. Poland, an artist from Kansas City. His body was found in the debris of the hotel saloon. The unfortunate man occupied a room over the saloon. 

J. L. PROUTY. J. L. Prouty of Clintonville, Mo. arrived on the evening train with the intention of joining the Normal school. A few bones of his remains only were found. Another guest of the hotel is missing. 

LOUIS ROISTER. On the register appears the name of Louis Roister, Sedalia, Mo. This body is supposed to have been completely burned, as no trace can be found. 

BADLY INJURED. Allen Durmeit, the steward of the hotel, is badly burned and scarred, and hopes of his recovery are doubtful. Thos. Higgius, a stone cutter, received a broken ankle and burned face while escaping. Geo. Crone, the clerk, was internally injured by inhaling fire.
Similar scene in Seattle. Warrensburg lost a hotel and two brick buildings 1873.

NARROW ESCAPE. Other inmates of the house barely escaped with their lives, many jumping from the second and third stories of the building and sustaining slight injuries. 

THE BURNED BUILDINGS. The hotel building was constructed of pine and was built in the spring of 1865. The building was soon consigned to the flames. It was insured for contents for $4,000. The adjoining building, belonging to H. F. Clark, and the Johnson County Savings bank were totally burned. Clark's building was insured for 3,700, and the saloon contents for 1,500. The bank building was insured for 1,000. The books and papers in the safe are saved. The hotel barber shop was an almost total loss. Peter Kuitz, tailor, was insured for 500, Ruthraff, jeweler, saved his entire stock. Considerable money was deposited in the hotel safe, which was taken from the debris this morning in a good condition. Great exertion was made to save the contiguous building and fortunately, the wind favored it. Even the stable buildings of wood were saved from the scorching elements.

Mings Hotel Site, Warrensburg, Missouri
Ming Hotel Fire - 1873 ARSON
It is believed at Warrensburg that the incendiaries who set fire to and destroyed the Ming Hotel in that city last month have been identified and captured. On Thursday last Capt. Filley, City Marshal of California, received a letter from L. Collins. Marshal of Warrensburg, giving a description of two men who had escaped from the Warrensburg jail about six weeks ago, and who were believed to be the parties who fired Ming's Hotel. Capt. Filley of course was on the lookout for developments and was rewarded for his sagacity by the discovery of two men stopping at California exactly answering the description given in Collins' letter. The names of the suspected parties were David McGonnoghny and Frank Pago; they had escaped from jail in Warrensburg about the first of December and came to California on Wednesday last in company with two women of questionable character. They had rented rooms and "done the town" two days before being "gobbled up" by the City Marshal. It is believed they are notorious thieves, and that evidence convicting them to burning Ming's Warrensburg Hotel will lie forthcoming. 
The state journal. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1872-1886, January 16, 1874

PREVIOUS FIRES. 

There is a chapter of fires in this prosperous town. The town has been burned and built again, but this last calamity is the most appalling one in its brief history. There, is a deep gloom cast over us this bright Sunday morning. It is the charred remains of the unfortunate who perished as if by magic. A coroner's inquest is now being held. 

MINOR LOSSES. 

Of other losses, we mention J. M. Shepherd, lawyer, books and papers; Griggs and Cress, dentists' materials, W. P. Ashbury, justice of the peace, books, and papers, D. W. Reed and G. Will Houts, books and papers. They occupied rooms over the bank. These statements are briefly and correctly detailed and we shall apprise you of further particulars. 

J. D. MORRIS. 

Of the many citizens who diligently labored to prevent the progress of the devouring elements, we make special mention of Jas. D. Morris. He was the first one to rescue the charred bodies from the fire, and while it was raging did his work nobly and heroically.



M. E. Mulevehill, J.W. Poland, J. L. Prainty, Louis Roister  Died in Mings Hotel Fire
101 South Holden,
1873 Warrensburg, Missouri
Mr. M. E. Mulvehill, Warrensburg, Mo, also Pine
Township, Indiana County 1873

1866 Mings Hotel Opens, just two years after the railroad comes to Warrensburg
1868 Ming's Hotel was a stagecoach stop.



February 26, 2024

1947 Holden Chiefs Baseball Team Whitey Herzog player - Hart's Cub's Warrensburg - Brown's Tennessee Rats


Holden Chiefs Semi-Pro 
Baseball Team
Batboy Mike Roberts, Ralph Vossen, Jim Bodenhamer, Vick Wilde, Hank Geritz, player-manager, Verle "Stub" Roberts, Alex Zych (KC Royals HOF Equipment Mgr), Jack Pickett, Pete Vitale, and batboy Gene Hyatt. BACK - Jack Bodenhamer, Jim Griffin, Bill Delick, Ray Uniak Jim DePalo, Everett Burton, Tom Mainey, Russ Swingle, and Bill Ralahan. Holden, Missouri Chiefs 1954
From the Johnson County MO Historical  Society Bulletin


The team played in the 1954 national tournament at Wichita, Kansas. The success of the team was due to Verle J. "Stub" Roberts and his wife, and the many fans of the team. Holden built a baseball field which was the best illuminated field of its size in this state. The first game under lights was played May 29, 1947.

In 1949, the second annual baseball tournament was played in Holden with 15 teams participated and 1,000 in cash prizes. In 1951, the Holden Chiefs were in second place in the state district tournament. The team had had such a winning record that they were invited to participate in the national tournament in Wichita, KS in 1954 and 1955. They finished in 4th place in 1954, and seventh out of 53 championship teams in the the nation 1955. They were awarded three trophies; Sportsmanship, Best Dressed Team and Best Town team under 5000 population.

Through the years the Holden Chiefs played over 74 different teams. Some of the teams were the San Francisco Sea Lions, New York Black Yankees, Kansas City Giants, negro team, Kansas City Monarchs (Satchel Paige, pitcher), Detroit Stars, over 60 Missouri teams.


Whitey Herzog, former KC Royals manager played for the Holden Chiefs. Among the Johnson County Boys playing for the Holden Chiefs were Jack and Jim Bodenhamer, Dale Honey, Galen Marr, Kenny Jones, Ab Kane and Verner Shippy.
Sedalia Democrat Aug. 10, 1954
During the 19th annual Missouri State Semi-Pro baseball tournament there have been, up to the present time. 29 home runs in the 32 games which have been played. Whitey Herzog of the Holden Chiefs is leading in the home run department with four. Jerry Lumpee, former Sedalia Ban Johnson Chiefs player, now playing with the Springfield Generals, has the distinction of having hit the first circuit drive of the tournament and has two to his credit. Griffen.
Lawrence, KS World Journal July 24, 1952

The Sedalia Democrat July 30, 1954 
In the second game of the evening, the Holden Chiefs moved closer to the semi-finals by defeating the Grandview Base 5-3. The victory gives the Chiefs a 2-0 record and the loss puts Grandview down to 1-1 standing. Herzog of the Chiefs put the wood to the ball in the third inning for a home run to score Uniak ahead of him after he had singled. Griffin walked as the next batter and then scored the third run on Mainey’s single. The Grandviw Bears tallied one in the top of the sixth, added two more in the seventh to knot the score. The tie was snapped in the bottom of the eighth when Griffen walked and scored on Vossen’s single. Vossen then scored on a wild pitch, to get the leading run.
(Photo)
July 25, 1955 Southeast Missourian
First baseman C.W. Suedekum of the Capahas pulls into third base with his second triple of the game as Holden Third-Sacker Mainey backs up for the throw from the outfield. It was during the Missouri State Semi-Pro Tournament second-round game at Capaha Park in which the Capahas defeated the Holden Chiefs, 10 to 7. (G.D. Fronabarger photo)


The Sedalia Democrat June 23, 1950

Cubs to Seek Win Tonight Over Holden in Sedalia to Meet Strong Semi-Pro Rivals at Park The Sedalia Cubs will face the Holden Chiefs tonight in a game at Liberty park scheduled to start at 8:15 o'clock. Two weeks ago the Chiefs defeated the Cubs at Holden during a pitcher's duel which ended 1 to 0. Lefty Pickett, of Kansas City, and Bob Newbill, of the Cubs, who opposed each other in the previous game between the two clubs will probably, meet again tonight. It will be up to the Cubs to snap, the Holden six game winning streak and to avenge their recent blanking by the Chiefs. Both pitchers in that 1 to 0 game gave up only four hits. In the Sedalia lineup, Slocum, leftfielder, is leading the team in hitting with a .410 average while Barr has .340 and Hume .318. Ken Ditton, 20-year-old rookie. who played his first game with the Cubs recently will be included in Sedalia's line-up tonight. 

Former K. C. Blues In Holden Line-up. 

The Holden line-up is composed of Sedalians, Kansas Citians and players from many other nearby communities. On third base, for example, is Jimmy Taylor, an ex-Cub. Roberts and Bodenhamer, of Sedalia. are key men on the Holden club. Griffin, an ex-K. C. Blues catcher, will be behind the plate. Uniak, husky six feet, four inch first baseman from Kansas City, is one of the team's power hitters. Pitching assignments will not be confirmed until game time.

TRIBUNE COLUMN 
Boone County’s Frank Graham, J.C. Penney share ties to 4-H 

By BILL CLARK

Published Monday, May 9, 2005

What do J.C. Penney and Frank Graham have in common?

Both came from small Missouri towns, and both are members of the National 4-H Foundation Hall of Fame. In fact, they are the only two Missourians in that shrine.

J.C. Penney grew up in Hamilton, moved to Wyoming and eventually turned a small mercantile store into a multibillion-dollar mail-order and superstore empire. He developed a love affair with 4-H and became one of the youth program’s major benefactors.

Frank Graham was born and raised in Fair Grove. He was an agricultural educator who spent 50 years on the Missouri 4-H Foundation’s board of trustees and was one of the state’s outstanding amateur baseball pitchers for nearly two decades. His right arm was sought for years by the top semipro clubs for big-money games.

Frank was not one of ol’ Clark’s heroes as I grew up in Clinton. He was the hated right-hander of the Holden Chiefs, one of the Midwest’s great nonpro clubs and a rival of the Clinton Chicks, our semipro club, so named not because the Chicks were women but because Clinton was the "Baby Chick Capital of the World" with its 16 hatcheries.

The Chicks couldn’t hit Frank, who combined a live, overpowering fastball and a hard three-quarter curve. Not many could.

Frank’s early background was not with Little League but with creek gravel and jack rabbits.

The lane from the main road to his farm home was covered with the smooth, round gravel from Ozark streams, and the stones were perfect for throwing. A kid with no baseball and no catcher, even if he had a ball, developed arm strength and accuracy by throwing those smooth rocks at a knothole in the side of the barn - much to his dad’s dismay.

Jack rabbits were a tougher target. Yes, there were jack rabbits in Greene County in the 1920s.

"I threw a quarter-mile of gravel at those rabbits and haven’t hit one yet," Frank says.

When he was 16, his strong, accurate arm led to his recruitment by semipro clubs in Buffalo and Springfield, and he soon became the phenom to beat at such gatherings of Ozark talent as the Stockton Fox Hunt.

By the time Frank graduated from Fair Grove High School in 1938, he was a pro prospect who turned down an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals. He chose education first and came to the University of Missouri, where his creek gravel training was turned into Big Six championships in 1941 and 1942.

When Frank graduated in 1942 with an agriculture degree, he turned down a St. Louis Browns contract to take a position as the extension agent in Wright County. He was on his way to the big leagues, but it was not to be in baseball. Try 4-H.

After two years in Wright County, he did a yearlong tour of duty as an Army lieutenant, and he returned to the extension service in 1946, becoming the agent in Johnson County. He pitched the baseball at every stop, and it was during his three years in Warrensburg that he harassed my Clinton Chicks.

It was fun, though, watching him pitch for Holden and beat the big-city guys at places such as the Urich Reunion and Deepwater Picnic. Not even the Kansas City Monarchs or the House of David could beat him.

Frank returned to Columbia to stay in January 1949. Old-time Central Missouri baseball fans remember him as the ace of the Armstrong Merchants. Kids from all corners of the state remember him as director of the state 4-H program. Boone Countians remember him as the presiding county commissioner who was involved with major changes in county government.

The 4-H program aims to teach leadership, citizenship and life skills to both rural and urban kids between ages 8 and 18. Today there are 27,400 4-H members in Missouri, 710 of them in Boone County. More than 105,000 are enrolled in 4-H-sponsored programs statewide. Nearly 75 percent of the participants are either farm kids or come from towns of 10,000 or fewer residents.

4-H is administered by land grant universities through extension divisions. Before 1914, land grant schools were resident research and teaching institutions. In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which mandated those land grant schools to extend resident programs to people who could not attend those schools. The first Missouri 4-H club was formed in 1918 in Ironton, and within a decade, 4-H was in every county.

Frank spent 17 years directing the state program, 28 years as a trustee of the national 4-H board, six years as chairman of the Missouri Council of Children and Youth, a term as chairman of the National Extension Commission on Policy and 50 years as trustee of the state 4-H Foundation. Today he lends his name to the Frank Graham Volunteer Fund to help 4-H around the state.
J.C. Penney was a benefactor of both 4-H and the University of Missouri. Among his gifts to the university was the Foremost Guernsey Farm on Highway 40 West. He had great respect for a program that helped young folks learn by doing.
When the National 4-H Youth Conference Center opened in 1970 in Chevy Chase, Md., Penney was a major financial contributor. He received the Friend of 4-H award from MU in 1960.
Penney and Frank proved to be quite a team.
After Frank retired from the extension division in 1975, he simply shifted his organizational abilities elsewhere. From 1987 to 1990, he was presiding officer of the Boone County commission and involved with three major projects: renovating the county courthouse, building the new county corrections complex and leasing Boone County Hospital.
He was president of the Boone County Historical Society from 1996 to 1999, served on The Senior Center board of directors, has held season football and basketball tickets for more than 50 years, and owns MU lifetime pass No. 630 as a three-year Tigers letterman.
His last major pitching assignment came in 1951 when he led Mendon to the National Baseball Congress championship tournament in Wichita, Kan. In his final start, he beat Arkansas. His next start came 51 years later when he threw the first pitch at the 60-year reunion of the 1942 Big Six champs.
Frank had actually returned to the diamond - the softball diamond - several seasons earlier to catch in an old-timers league with such "younger" local stars as George Hulett, Kent Kurtz and Jim Estes. He retired a second time at age 80.
Frank’s wife of four decades, Emma Jean, died in 1985. A year later he married Olive, a former 4-H member from Illinois and a retired operating room nurse. Their combined families total five children, 17 grandkids and 19 great-grandkids.
Now you know where throwing creek gravel at a knothole can take you: to a full life and the 4-H Hall of Fame alongside J.C. Penney.
Too bad that’s not good enough to get a guy into the MU Athletic Hall of Fame as well.


HART'S CUBS
Another local baseball team before the Holden Chiefs.  This team was sponsored by Hart's Cafe at 123 East Pine Street, Warrensburg, MO. A famous hamburger hangout.  Today known as the Stone House East Pine Street Pub.



and another famous team from Holden Missouri
Brown's Tennesse Rats story link



1914 Bolt of Lightning Bursts Clock Dials on Top of Court House - Back to the Future?

A bolt of lightning which struck the Johnson County Court House in Warrensburg during a storm last week burst the four dials on the clock.  A peculiarity was that it destroyed the Roman numerals "II" on the face of each dial. The dials face to the four points of the compass and are separated by distances of twenty-five feet.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.....................



1864 Minna and Ada Simms Everleigh (Lester) Became Madams of the Most Famous Brothel in America, in Chicago

Chicago’s Everleigh Club is the most famous brothel in USA history. 
It was located in the notorious Levee district (Chicago, IL).
Minna and Ada Had Lived In Warrensburg, MO
Sisters Minna (1866-1948) & Ada (1864-1960) Everleigh ran the “club”. They hosted senators, foreign dignitaries, literary icons, actors (big surprise there!), business moguls, and on and on. Prince Henry of Prussia, Theodore Dreiser, Diamond Jim Brady, and other celebrities of renown went to the Everleigh Club. The department store heir, Marshall Field Jr., was even shot there.
The Everleigh “butterflies” were expected to be well-read and were even tutored in Balzac. Other requirements …
… look good in an evening gown
…be polite
…be there of their own free will (they wanted nothing to do with parents selling their children, white slavers, etc.)
… be at least 18 years old
… visit their doctor (that they kept on retainer) at least 1x/month
… no drugs/alcohol
Such women included the legendary Suzy Poon Tang, one of the club’s most popular girls and big draws. Hailing from China, Poon Tang was infamously good at satisfying the clientele, so much so that her name would later become synonymous with the now sullied term of “gonna get me some poontang.” Needless to say, her name and the term still maintains a more dignified connotation than that of a “Rusty Venture.”
The Everleigh Club might be the only brothel in American history that enhanced, rather than diminished, a man’s reputation. Clients reportedly boasted, “I’m going to get Everleighed” tonight, which helped to popularize the phrase “get laid.” A man wouldn’t want to be seen at the “lower” houses, however.
The early history of the sisters is wrapped up in the War Between the States. The fortune of their family reflected what was happening financially to families all across the south.
Harold Woodward wrote, “a grim reality of poverty & decay … Once-fertile fields were covered with scrub oaks and stunted pines, the landscape dotted with decayed fences, half-starved cattle, ramshackle houses and the remnants of crumbling mansions.”
The sisters’ grandparents died. Their dad had to stop practicing law and farm the land. Agricultural prices were low. Taxes & interest were high. Income was scarce. Their father’s brother had stolen most of the family money secretly and moved to Missouri.
Their mother and little sister died when Ada was 12 & Minna was 10. Baby brother George was given to an aunt to raise. The sisters began to detach themselves from life. The family moved to Madison County (VA) where their neighbors were former Virginia governor & confederate general (with 5 children). Visits to his mansion reminded them of everything they lost.
Lula, another sister, died and the family moved from Virginia to Warrensburg, Missouri, where their father had relatives. They grew up believing daddy was the only man that mattered … why marry?
Minna & Ada did marry, but needed to flee for their lives because of physical abuse.
The sisters concluded from their experiences that men were greedy, brutal, spend thrifts, and not to be trusted. A niece, Evelyn Diment, would later write to Irving Wallace in 1989 about her great aunts,
“They were struggling because they were at the end of the Civil War and there were very few ways to make money. Their plantation was lost because they couldn’t pay taxes. They began as prostitutes and they became madams. Their father put them in the business, and then these women made a marvelous success out of it … Southern families have a way of keeping things very quiet. And if anyone knew anything, they kept their mouth shut.”
The sisters provided for their family in the only way they knew how. They changed their last name. Their grandmother signed all correspondence with “Everly Yours” and the name of their new club was established: Everleigh.
Everleigh Club Admission: $10
Bottle of Champagne : $12
Dinner: $50
At a time when the average wage per week was $6, those visiting the Everleigh Club found they were spending anywhere from $200-$1500 per visit. If a patron only spent $50, they were asked not to return.
Was it right? …. NO
Do I approve of it? … NO 
Can I understand it? … YES!
The business management skills and acumen of the sisters is undebatable.
Yes, they did much better than other “wayward” women of the Victorian era whether they were located in Chicago, Philly, NYC, Washington DC, major European cities, etc.
Even though their “business” prospered beyond what they dreamed, they do represent an important aspect of the Victorian Era.
(Left)The Everleigh Club at 2131 South Dearborn.
(Right)The Everleigh Club just before demolition in July 1933.
The Everleigh sisters Minna and Ada—the madams of the Everleigh Club—carried out very different duties in the operation of the club. Ada, the soft-spoken sister, mainly focused on handling all the business transactions, which included handling the books and allocating finances. She did not only take care of the logistics the club required but she also was responsible for hiring new girls. On the other hand, Minna, the outgoing sister, was responsible for carrying out lessons to teach the new girls charm and culture. Her sass lent her the ability to effortlessly interact with guests. Often Minna was seen socializing with guests near the parlors or welcoming them with a friendly greeting into the club. Any duty that required personal interactions was handled by Minna.
The Everleigh "Pullman Room" Designed to Look like a Pullman Train car, Chicago, 1909
Ada and Minna Simms Lester were two very young women with a very fortunate career. In the early 1900's their stardom took off through their flourishing establishment called the Everleigh Club. Their creation was nothing less than luxurious with its spectacular furnishings and upscale requirements; they provided only the best for their customers. With that being said, it is safe to conclude that the Everleigh Club was an extravagant attraction for this time period. Prior to relocating to Chicago, the Everleigh sisters toured brothels in many cities, trying to find a location which had "plenty of wealthy men but no superior houses." They were directed to Chicago by Cleo Maitland, a madam in Washington, D.C., who suggested they contact Effie Hankins in Chicago. Prior to relocating to Chicago, the Everleigh sisters toured brothels in many cities, trying to find a location which had "plenty of wealthy men but no superior houses." 
After buying Hankins's brothel at 2131-2133 South Dearborn Street, they fired all the women and completely redecorated the entire building with the most luxurious appointments available. Silk curtains, damask easy chairs, oriental rugs, mahogany tables, gold rimmed china and silver dinner ware, and perfumed fountains in every room. A $15,000 gold-leafed piano (the price is the equivalent of $369,205 in 2007) stood in the Music Room, mirrored ceilings, a library filled with finely bound volumes, an art gallery featuring nudes in gold frames -- no expense was spared. While the heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson thought the $57 gold spittoons in his café were worth boasting about, the patrons of the Everleigh Club were obliged to expectorate in $650 gold cuspidors. The Everleigh Club was described by Chicago's Vice Commission as "the most famous and luxurious house of prostitution in the country.Prior to relocating to Chicago, the Everleigh sisters toured brothels in many cities, trying to find a location which had "plenty of wealthy men but no superior houses."
After buying Hankins's brothel at 2131-2133 South Dearborn Street, they fired all the women and completely redecorated the entire building with the most luxurious appointments available. Silk curtains, damask easy chairs, oriental rugs, mahogany tables, gold rimmed china and silver dinner ware, and perfumed fountains in every room. A $15,000 gold-leafed piano (the price is the equivalent of $369,205 in 2007) stood in the Music Room, mirrored ceilings, a library filled with finely bound volumes, an art gallery featuring nudes in gold frames -- no expense was spared. While the heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson thought the $57 gold spittoons in his café were worth boasting about, the patrons of the Everleigh Club were obliged to expectorate in $650 gold cuspidors. The Everleigh Club was described by Chicago's Vice Commission as "the most famous and luxurious house of prostitution in the country."
Prior to the opening of the Everleigh Club, Ada was responsible for recruiting talent for the club. She started by contacting her former employees in Omaha and spreading the word through brothels across the country. She conducted face-to-face interviews with all the applicants.
The Everleigh Club - America's Most Famous Brothel
On the other hand, not all women who participated in this sort business had it that easy. Prostitution during the early 1900's in Chicago was a very rough experience for the majority of these women. While the Everleigh Club charged men fifty dollars for secluded time with one of their women, most prostitutes were only paid about twenty-five cents for their work. 
1900. The Rose Parlor room inside the Everleigh Club. A brothel at 2131–2133 South Dearborn Street.
Everleigh Club, Rose Parlor Room, Chicago
Also, many of these young women were beaten and taken advantage of by the men who worked for them and sold them to different brothels. Even though some women were lucky enough to partake in the glamour that the Everleigh Club had to offer, the majority of prostitutes in this section of history in Chicago used this business as a way to get by during hard conditions in this time period. The clientele of the Everleigh House included captains of industry, important politicians and European nobility and royalty. Among them were Marshall Field, Jr.Edgar Lee MastersTheodore DreiserRing LardnerJohn Warne GatesJack Johnson, and Prince Henry of Prussia.
Minna Everleigh (left) and Ada of the Everleigh Social Cluв Minna (1866-1948) and Ada (1865-1960) Everleigh, arrived in Chicago in 1899 from Omaha and the doors opened on 1 February 1900 what soon became the most famous brothel in America. Lavish rooms made their services seem respectable to many including the press. Regular patrons included Marshall Field, Jr., poet Edgar Lee Masters, author Theodore Dreiser, columnist Ring Lardner, industrialist John Warne Gates, boxer Jack Johnson, actor John Barrymore and Prince Heinrich of Prussia. Their corporate headquarters was located in the heart of the Levee District at 2131-2133 S. Dearborn Street. Their phone number was CALumet 412.
Gold piano
The  $15,000 Gold-Leafed Piano at the Everleigh Social Club
The Everleigh sisters spared no expense in their redecoration of their brothel which they named the Everleigh Club. They replaced all old furnishings with new lavish furnishings including: Mahogany and walnut paneling, tapestries, oriental rugs, statuary, gold-nude paintings, gold-rim china and silver dinner ware, perfumed foundations in every room, a music parlor within a $15,000 gold-leafed piano, mirrored ceilings, and a library complete with finely bound volumes. A dozen parlors were orientated on the first floor.
The Grand Ballroom of the Everleigh Social Club
 Each parlor consisted of a certain theme such as: the Silver Parlor, the Gold Parlor, the Rose Parlor, or the Japanese Throne Room-all of which appealed to the varying groups of clientele the club received. The upstairs of the Everleigh Club held the private bedrooms were clientele could experience enjoy a more personal encounter with the women of his choosing alongside luxurious divans, damask chairs, gilt bathtubs and warbling canaries. As luxurious, the dining room's design emulated a private Pullman cart with the corresponding ornate gold and mahogany trimmings. The menu featured only the finest entrees such as: duck, caviar, lobster, deviled crab, fried oysters, goose capton, and an excellent selection of wine. It is due to all these extravagant amenities the Everleigh Club was dubbed "probably the most famous and luxurious house of prostitution in the country" by the Chicago Vice Commission.
File:Everleigh Club - Oriental Music Room.jpg
The Everleigh Social Club, Oriental Music Room
The Everleigh quickly gained a reputation as an upscale gentleman's club, so much so that the Everleigh sisters were forced to turn away prospective clients even on opening day on February 1, 1900. The club's extensive popularity afforded Minna and Ada the opportunity to select their clientele. Only those men deemed suitable by Minna and Ada gained admittance into the Everleigh Club. The Everleigh sisters deemed a prospective client "worthy" to be admitted into the club if: the prospective client provided a letter of recommendation from an existing member, an engraved card, or through a formal introduction by Minna or Ada. These standards made the club extremely exclusive, indulging the desires of only the wealthy and influential men. "The cachet of being able to go there, just because they turned down so many people..It became an exclusive badge of honor just be to admitted."
The Everleigh Blue Bedroom, Chicago ca 1900
By 1902, the club expanded and the sisters were making donations to the First Ward Aldermen, "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Michael "Hinky-Dink" Kenna, to ensure their continued leeway. After the club was closed, Minna Everleigh claimed in testimony that she "always entertained state legislators free in the club."
On March 3, 1902, Prince Henry of Prussia visited the Club while in the United States to collect a ship built for his brother, German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
On March 3, 1902, Prince Henry of Prussia visited the Everleigh Club 
 Although the city had sponsored numerous events for Henry, his main interest was a visit to the club. The sisters planned a bacchanalia for the visiting prince, including dancing, dining and a recreation of the dismemberment of Zeus's son. During one of the dances, a prostitute's slipper came off and spilled champagne. When one of the prince's entourage drank the champagne, he started the trend of drinking champagne from a woman's shoe.
On November 22, 1905, Marshall Field, Jr. suffered a gunshot that would prove to be fatal. Although newspapers reported it was an accident and occurred at his home, there is some evidence that he was shot by a prostitute at the Everleigh Club.
On January 9, 1910, Nathaniel Moore died of natural causes in the Chez Shaw brothel in Chicago's Levee district after spending much of the previous night at the Everleigh Club.
The club employed 15 to 25 cooks and maids. Gourmet meals featured iced clam juice, caviar, pheasants, ducks, geese, artichokes, lobster, fried oysters, devilled crabs, pecans and bonbons. There were three orchestras, and musicians played constantly, usually on the piano accompanied by strings. Publishing houses would publicize new songs by having them played at the Everleigh Club. The house was heated with steam in the winter and cooled with electric fans in the summer.
Scandals
One of the notorious scandals that surrounded the Everleigh Club concerned the questionable death of Marshall Fields, Jr. On November 22, 1905, Fields experienced a fatal gunshot wound. Different theories arose as to how Fields received the gunshot wound. It was reported that he shot himself accidentally while cleaning his gun before a hunting trip. However, rumors alleged that Fields was actually at the Everleigh Club when he was shot and murdered by an Everleigh butterfly. The actual events that led to the cause of his death still arise suspicion among people.
On January 3, 1910, Nathaniel Moore also died under suspicious circumstances. It was said that Moore died of natural causes after spending the previous night at the Everleigh Club. He was found dead at the Chez Shaw brothel, and the events leading to his death were also questionable.
Their House: From its 1900 opening until a forced closing on Oct. 24, 1910, America's most famous (and sumptuous) brothel operated in two adjoining three-story stone mansions at 2132 South Dearborn Street, well within Chicago's famous red-light Levee District. The buildings provided 50 rooms, including 12 soundproof reception parlors where three orchestras played, 30 bedrooms, a library, an art gallery, a dining room, and a Turkish ballroom complete with a huge fountain and a parquet floor.
Everleigh Club prostitution den at 21st and Dearborn where the Hilliard Center projects now stand
The most famous of the parlors was called the Gold Room and featured gilt furniture, gold-trimmed fishbowls, $650 cuspidors, and a $15,000 gold piano. Upstairs in the boudoirs, guests found marble-inlaid brass beds, mirrored ceilings, gold bathtubs, fresh-cut roses, oil paintings, and push-buttons to ring for champagne. One room had an automatic perfume spray over the bed, another had a silver-white spotlight which focused on a divan, a third had the furniture of a Turkish harem. Spending an evening at the Everleigh Club was such a special occasion that many guests publicly boasted of their adventures. Prince Henry of Prussia enjoyed a memorable orgy there in 1902. Other delighted celebrities who visited at least once included writers Ring Lardner, George Ade, and Percy Hammond, boxer "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, actor John Barrymore, and gambler "Bet a Million" Gates. Chicago newspapermen made it their favorite watering and wenching place. (When a small fire occurred in the club one evening, three of the top reporters on the Chicago Tribune were on hand to cover it.) Newsman Jack Lait once insisted, "Minna and Aida Everleigh are to pleasure what Christ was to Christianity." Poet Edgar Lee Masters was also a devoted patron. He once described a typical arrival at the Everleigh Club. Minna ("somehow the larger personality, the more impressive figure") would come to the door, walking with a sort of "cater-pillar bend and hump. . . . She was remarkably thin. Her hair was dark and frizzled, her face thin and refined. 'How is my boy?" was her cordial salutation." 
Specialties and Eccentricities: Often on special occasions, Minna would set a number of butterflies loose to flit about the house. Madam Cleo Maitland, an old friend of the sisters, once remarked that "no man is going to forget he got his behind fanned by a butterfly at the Everleigh Club."
Aida once told journalist Charles Washburn how she selected her "hostesses." "I talk with each applicant myself," she said. "She must have worked somewhere else before coming here. We do not like amateurs. . . . To get in, a girl must have a pretty face and figure, must be in perfect health, must look well in evening clothes. If she is addicted to drugs, or to drink, we do not want her. . . ."
The girls received weekly instruction in makeup, dress, and Southern manners. They were required to read books from the Everleigh library. And Minna lectured them on general operating procedures.
"Be polite, patient, and forget what you are here for," she said. "Gentlemen are only gentlemen when properly introduced. . . .No lineup for selection as in other houses. . . . It means, briefly, that your language will have to be ladylike and that you will forgo the entreaties you have used in the past. You have the whole night before you, and one $50 client is more desirable than five $10 ones. Less wear and tear. . . .Give, but give interestingly and with mystery. I want you girls to be proud that you are in the Everleigh Club."
The rewards for such conduct were princely. The sisters made an annual profit of about $120,000 (despite the fact that expenses were high and that graft cost them over $10,000 a year). When a wave of reform forced them to close the club on Dearborn Street, Minna and Aida departed with a cool million in cash, furnishings worth $150,000, and about $200,000 in jewelry.
They lost a hunk of it in an abortive attempt to reopen on Chicago's West Side in 1912, but they still were able to retreat into comfortable obscurity. Like most investors, they were hit hard by the stock market collapse of 1929, but they salvaged an expensive home off New York's Central Park, where they lived the life of genteel club women.
"All they ask for the remainder of their lives," reported Charles Washburn, "is a roof and one quart of champagne a week."