Everleigh Club

[2] Initially born with the surname Simms, the sisters took the name Everleigh, which was inspired by their grandmother's tradition to sign her letters, "Everly yours."

Before 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."

[6] 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, perfumed fountains in every room, a $15,000 gold-leafed piano for the Music Room, mirrored ceilings, a library filled with finely bound volumes, an art gallery featuring nudes in gold frames—no expense was spared.

[9] The brothel opened on February 1, 1900 with little fanfare, and turned away many of the clients who initially appeared because the Everleigh Sisters did not deem them to be the suitably upscale clientele they were seeking.

"[12] 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.

[2] 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.

Following a 1910 Vice Commission report that noted there were nearly 600 brothels in Chicago, Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr. ordered the Everleigh Club to be closed on October 24, 1911.

[1][17] The sisters retired with an estimated $1 million in cash and traveled in Europe, then eventually changed their name back to Lester and settled in New York City.

Shortly after the brothel was closed, Minna Everleigh testified against Chicago aldermen "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and "Hinky Dink" Kenna.

Nevertheless, Chief Justice Harry Olson of Chicago's Municipal Court released her testimony that outlined the schedule of graft due to the aldermen in return for allowing operations to continue in the Levee District.

The novel The Golden Room by Irving Wallace (1989) gives a fictionalized account of the events surrounding the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia to the Everleigh Club, taking great liberties with dates and historical characters.

The fictional novel “The Race - An Issac Bell Adventure“ by [Clive Cussler & Justin Scott](2011) includes a reference in Chapter 26 to the Everleigh Club.