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| Madame Louise "Lou" Graham (1861-1903[1,2]) was a head seamstress at a business she opened located in Pioneer Square in [[Seattle, Washington]] (the area was known then as Whitechapel, "Tenderloin District", "Seattle's Tenderloin"). The business is now only remembered as Lou Graham's Parlor. Madame Lou passed away in [[San Francisco]] in 1903. | | #REDIRECT[[Madame Louise "Lou" Graham (1861-1903)]] |
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| Lou Graham would hire others who lived at her venue as seamstresses offering tailoring services, a cover for sex workers at the time. Lou herself had a romantic relationship and partnership with another woman, Amber Delmas[3], and she hired, possibly, transgender women who would be requested by clients as "the lady in the black dress". Lou Graham never became a citizen of the United States, a German immigrant, and had no known children while here[4,5]. Her possessions were challenged by relatives in Germany but, without citizenship, all her property in Washington could acquired by the state through escheatment. The matter was debated for years[6,7,8,9].
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| Lou Graham hired Chinese and Japanese servants as cooks and other laborers, two of which demanded unpaid wages in the breakup of her estate[10]. One of them also reported to have loaned her $800 which was never paid back.
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| === Police Raids ===
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| In 1891, Lou was acquitted at an attempt to close the business but many police including the chief refused to testify against the character of the women or the home[11]. The business was subject to many raids and arrests[12,13].
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| === Other Stories ===
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| Lou Graham petitioned the city to widen the sidewalks at Fourth and Washington in 1890[14]. In 1894, she had a diamond necklace and other jewelry of such significant value that it was known to the point which robbers plotted to take but were unsuccessful and captured by police[15].
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| === Madame Lou Graham's Parlor and Seattle's "Seamstresses" (1888) ===
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| <gallery>
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| File:Madame-lou-graham-seattle.jpg
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| </gallery>
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| == Sources ==
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| # Secretary of State, [https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/E906DD85C047AB466162ADD255102124 "King County Auditor, Death Records, 1891-1907"]
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle Republican, March 13, 1903, Image 3"
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| # Libbie Hawker, "Madam" (2018) Historical Note And Acknowledgements
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| # Library of Congress, "The Evening statesman, July 22, 1904, Image 3"
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| # University of Washington, [https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ptleader/id/1261 "Port Townsend Daily Leader No. 219 (July 21, 1904)"]
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle Republican, August 26, 1904, Image 5"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle Republican., January 27, 1905, Image 2"
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| # University of Washington, [https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ptleader/id/1568 "Port Townsend Daily Leader (August 21, 1904)"]
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| # University of Washington, [https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ptleader/id/1706 "Port Townsend Daily Leader (September 9, 1904)"]
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle star, April 24, 1903, Page 8, Image 8"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, February 21, 1891, Image 2"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, July 21, 1889, Image 8"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, April 13, 1892, Page 8, Image 8"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, October 30, 1890, Page 8, Image 8"
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| # Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, February 20, 1894, Page 5, Image 5"
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| # Photo courtesy of Paul Dorpat and HistoryLink.org [https://www.historylink.org/File/2762 "Madame Lou Graham arrives in Seattle in February 1888."]
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| == Other References ==
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| * Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, April 12, 1890, Page 6, Image 6"
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| * Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, October 30, 1892, Page 3, Image 3"
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| * Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, December 16, 1892, Page 5, Image 5"
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| * Library of Congress, "The Seattle post-intelligencer, October 12, 1893, Page 8, Image 8"
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