Published January 15, 2026 | Updated August 20, 2026

Perhaps you’ve visited Anna’s Place or Wilson & Washburn and wondered just who Anna Wilson was and why two popular establishments are named in her memory.

Omaha’s “Queen of the Underworld” was both reviled and admired as a madam who was one of the city’s biggest philanthropists.

Anna Wilson was born in Georgia in 1835 to English immigrant parents, her father a Baptist pastor. Despite these humble beginnings, rumors suggest she had aristocratic origins.

Before coming to Omaha, Anna met her lifelong partner, Dan Allen, in New Orleans. Dan was born in New York in 1830. By 1860, he was living in Peoria, Illinois, and worked as a sporting man due to his involvement in gambling and saloons. This earned him a reputation as someone who lived outside of what was considered respectable society.

Anna and Dan came to Omaha together in 1867. By this point, he was working as a saloon keeper, while her profession was listed as “keeping house” in the 1870 federal census, though she worked in his gambling houses. Around this time, she began operating her own brothel, which offered women the opportunity to earn a living wage while receiving medical care and support. Living at 914 Douglas Street, she housed 10 women whose ages ranged from 18 to 30.

Dan passed away in 1884 at 54 years old. The notorious gambler made a fortune during his life, which he left to Anna. Just two years later, in 1886, the “Queen of the Underworld” had built her famous 25-room mansion on lower Douglas Street in the city’s red-light district. She refused to accept women into her house who were not already involved in the trade and encouraged them to leave if they were able.

She didn’t live in the mansion long and moved to 1609 California Street by 1891, retiring as a madam in 1896. By 1900, her occupation in the federal census simply lists her as “capitalist,” fitting for someone who had acquired extensive real estate through the years. In 1906, she moved into an extravagant mansion at 2018 Wirt Street, a home built in 1891 for Alfred D. Jones, a pioneer who platted the land that became Omaha and later served as its first postmaster, city council member, legislator, and Claim Club judge. Perhaps this was her way of proving that she too was worthy of such a residence.

Largely scorned by society, Anna found herself living in near solitude during her final years, save for a maid, a servant, two Dalmatians, and a parrot. She devoted much of her final days to prayer, practices she had learned as the daughter of a minister. She once told her friend, Rev. Charles Savidge, that she hoped God would see enough good in her to forgive her. At the time of her death in 1911, she claimed to have no living relatives.

Anna used her wealth to support the poor, the elderly, and children. Her charitable donations included Child Saving Institute, Clarkson Hospital, Creche Home for Children, city mission, and Prospect Hill Cemetery, where she and Dan were buried.

She donated her Douglas Street mansion, the former brothel, to the City of Omaha for use as a hospital. Though the city was reportedly reluctant to accept the gift at first, it ultimately agreed. Rather than naming it the Anna Wilson Memorial Hospital, however, it was simply called City Emergency Hospital. The building was sold and razed in 1946. Her Wirt Street mansion was donated to the Old People’s Home, which sold the property in 1916 before it was razed in 1970. Her charitable contributions were among the largest in Omaha’s history.

Following her death, Mary Rogers Kimball, founder of the creche and the mother of architect Thomas Rogers Kimball, started a tradition of leaving a yellow rose at Anna’s grave each year. The tradition is now a part of Prospect Hill Cemetery’s Memorial Day observance.

Creighton. Millard. Woolworth. Kountze. These are men whose achievements, professionally and civically, are celebrated with the institutions, streets, schools, and neighborhoods named after them. Wilson, despite her generosity, was someone most people preferred to forget. Today, her name lives on through the speakeasy as well as the restaurant and bar. I suspect she would have preferred it that way.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wilson_(madam)
• https://northomahahistory.com/2016/10/06/north-omaha-mansion-13-anna-wilsons-home/
• Anna Wilson (1835-1911) – Find a Grave Memorial
• Daniel B. “Dan” Allen (1830-1884) – Find a Grave Memorial