Eliza Haycraft

Eliza Haycraft ( February 14, 1820 – December 5, 1871) was a wealthy brothel madam and philanthropist, who donated money to the widows and orphans of the American Civil War.

Biography Haycraft was born on February 14, 1820. She moved to St. Louis, Missouri, from Callaway County, Missouri, in 1840, reportedly arriving in a canoe. She fled her original home because her parents cast her out after she was seduced by a lover at the age of twenty. She arrived in St. Louis destitute, with only the option of selling herself as a courtesan.

Haycraft took advantage of the brief legalization of prostitution in her city, and soon became the owner and manager of a brothel, doing well in business despite her inability to read and write. She signed her name with an "X", and avoided using banks. In spite of her inability to read, Haycraft was smart enough to build a vast brothel empire in St. Louis, which she rented to her fellow madams. Houses were taxed to cover the costs associated with the regular weekly medical inspections of prostitutes for sexually transmitted diseases and the costs associated with maintaining hospitals for women with active cases of the disease. During a prostitution-legal era when brothels were common, she was one of St. Louis' wealthiest people. She was also known for her philanthropy, providing assistance to the poor of the city.

Her stature made it possible for her to purchase a home from the Chouteau family, one of the city's most prominent families, when she retired in 1870. More than 5,000 people attended her funeral, and she was buried without a marker in the Bellefontaine Cemetery. Her grave is in the center of a 20-plot lot she bought. The other plots remain empty. Madam runs at Bluff City Theater in Hannibal MO from August 15 to August 24, 2019.