Bordello Museum is a labor of love
WALLACE — For the past two years, the Oasis Bordello Museum in Wallace stood still. The only memories of the brothel and the women that worked there could be viewed from peeking through the large front windows. This changed with Leigh Lutich Ligenza, who couldn’t bear to see the building standing alone any longer.
Ligenza knew she wanted something to do with the museum and quickly went to work on opening it back up.
“I talked with the current owner when I saw him, and asked what he was going to do with the building. He wasn’t sure, and I told him whatever happens, I want to be a part of it.”
A deal was struck, and Ligenza quickly got to work with cleaning, maintaining and setting up the museum.
“The outside of the building can’t have any changes, but I’m going to update the inside. The Barnard-Stockbridge Museum has some really beautiful photos of some of the madames and ladies that worked here, and I would love to display them.”
This is a major labor of love for Ligenza, who explained, “one of the things that’s personally important to me is that whoever runs this place, humanizes the girls. It’s fun to have people come in and make jokes. I do enjoy that part of the banter. But at the end of it all, I want people to understand that over 70 percent of girls when they are young are abused. And they end up in this type of work. I don’t want to exploit them.”
The building itself was originally built in 1895, serving the town of Wallace as a hotel and saloon. Throughout the years, Wallace eventually became the center of one of the world's richest silver mining districts and men outnumbered the women 200 to 1. Commercial sex was not new to the town of Wallace, as The Wallace Free Press spoke of “individuals of feminine gender who flaunt their festering identity in the face of public decency” as far back as 1877.
Local police would turn a blind eye to this technically illegal operation, as mining and sex work supported the town. Oasis would often have five girls work around 16 hours a day, which resulted in estimated profits of about $1 million per year.
The building served as an active bordello with five other brothels until Sept. 29, 1988, when signs and padlocks appeared on the doors as the FBI raided and shut down the popular businesses.
As the story goes, the occupants of the bordello left hastily, leaving personal items, furnishings, food in the cupboards, and more. The building was later bought in 1993 and eventually opened into a museum.
When the museum first opened, the items inside were kept just how they were left to show how the ladies lived. Because the building sat for two years, Ligenza knew she had to do some cleaning and maintenance.
“I tried to clean the curtains that were hanging in the bedrooms and they simply disintegrated,” Ligenza said. “I also took some things upstairs out of drawers to display, because I think their items should be viewed.”
During the process of cleaning and cataloging the items in the museum, Ligenza found some intriguing documents that she is planning to display and let people peruse. When asked what the documents contain, Ligenza smiled.
“If I say that and it’s published, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Surprises are important to Ligenza, as she also asks that photos of the rooms are not taken.
“I don’t want somebody to see it online. I want them to see it for the first time in person.”
Although updates have been made, the original feel of the museum remains the same. Looking toward the future, Ligenza has exciting plans of creating new merchandise and setting up the jukebox and intercom system upstairs.
“There’s still a lot of damage that needs to be fixed, but we need the funds to do it. Eventually, I would also like to obtain a beer and wine license and have special events here.”
The Oasis Bordello Museum is located at 605 Cedar St. in Wallace and is currently open Wednesday through Saturday, with tours running every hour on the hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday visits can be arranged by appointment only.
