Ramsey County History – Fall 1980: “Long Kate, Dutch Henriette and Mother Robinson: Three Madams in Post-Civil War St. Paul”

Long Kate, Dutch Henriette and Mother Robinson: Three Madams in
Post-Civil War St. Paul
Author: Joel E. Best

According to the author, managing a brothel “offered a rare opportunity for a 19th century woman—a chance for a lower-class or working-class woman, beginning with little money and limited opportunities, to achieve financial independence in the city.” This article examines the careers of three madams. Samantha “Long Kate” Hutton came from Kentucky in 1867. She quickly became a successful madam and well-known character, for her six-foot stature and her ostentatious dress. She drank heavily, got in fights, once attempted suicide, and was arrested over a hundred times. She was killed by a lover in 1881. Dutch Henriette was born in Germany around 1837 and came to St. Paul with her husband in the mid-1860s. She seemed to prosper as a madam, despite the continuing costs of her arrests and legal fees. Like Long Kate, she was combative, but she died of syphilis at thirty-eight. Mary E. Robinson was the city’s most prominent and successful madam at the time, overseeing its most fashionable brothel and gaining considerable wealth, some of which came from speculating in real estate. She retired in 1874 and lived to age eighty.
PDF of Best article