Ada Everleigh

American madam

Also known as: Ada Lester

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June 26, 2026

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Ada Everleigh, along with her sister Minna, was a prominent American madam who operated the luxurious Everleigh Club in Chicago from 1900 to 1911. Their establishment catered to wealthy and influential patrons, offering opulent furnishings, fine dining, and carefully trained hostesses. The sisters invested a significant inheritance into their brothel, doubling their investment before moving to Chicago. The Everleigh Club became renowned for its extravagance, featuring themed parlors, expensive art, and a renowned music room. Despite political protection, reform movements led to the club's closure in 1911, after which the sisters retired with considerable wealth.1

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Everleigh sisters
American madams whose luxurious and notorious Chicago brothel indulged wealthy and influential patrons from that city and around the world. Ada Everleigh (b. Feb. 15, 1876, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 3, 1960, Virginia) and Minna Everleigh (b. July 5/13, 1878, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d.…
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American madams whose luxurious and notorious Chicago brothel indulged wealthy and influential patrons from that city and around the world. Ada Everleigh (b. Feb. 15, 1876, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 3, 1960, Virginia) and Minna Everleigh (b. July 5/13, 1878, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d.…
Read More