Pendleton_2021 08 16_0920
Stella Darby was the madam of the Cozy Rooms bordello from 1928 to 1967. Her bronze statue stands outside its former entrance door. The Medernach Building (built ca. 1898), located at 333-339 South Main Street in Pendleton, Oregon, is a contributing property of the South Main Street Commercial Historic District, recognized on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. As of 2014, some rather kitschy storefronts were removed, and a statue of the mid-20th century brothel madam Stella Darby was placed out in front. A town once famous for its bootlegging and bordellos, Pendleton was considered by cowboys of the time to be the entertainment capital of the Northwest. Among the 32 saloons and 18 brothels that called Pendleton home, the most notorious of these was Madame Darby’s Cozy Rooms. This statue of Madame Darby, though a bit controversial, reminds visitors of a more colorful part of Pendleton’s history. Stella Darby stands proudly at the entrance to her risqué establishment. The Stella Darby bronze is also the only privately owned statue on the Pendleton Bronze Trail, and is dedicated to Pam Severe, who established the Working Girls Hotel and dedicated her life to preserving Pendleton’s underground history / Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton, after politician and diplomat George H. Pendleton (1825–1889), who served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880. By 1900, Pendleton was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned. The town is the cultural center of Eastern Oregon. Pendleton's "Old town" is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have their property nearby. They have established the Wildhorse Resort & Casino and golf course on the reservation to generate revenue for development and welfare. They have also built the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, for education and interpretation of their cultures. Pendleton Woolen Mills is a maker of wool blankets, shirts, and an assortment of other woolen goods. Founded in 1909 by Clarence, Roy and Chauncey Bishop, the company built upon earlier businesses related to the many sheep ranches in the region. A wool-scouring plant opened in Pendleton in 1893 to wash raw wool for shipping. In 1895, the scouring mill was converted into a mill that made wool blankets and robes for Native Americans. Both businesses failed to survive, but the Bishops, with the help of a local bond issue, enlarged the mill and improved its efficiency. They developed a successful line of garments and blankets with "vivid colors and intricate patterns."
Pendleton_2021 08 16_0920
Stella Darby was the madam of the Cozy Rooms bordello from 1928 to 1967. Her bronze statue stands outside its former entrance door. The Medernach Building (built ca. 1898), located at 333-339 South Main Street in Pendleton, Oregon, is a contributing property of the South Main Street Commercial Historic District, recognized on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. As of 2014, some rather kitschy storefronts were removed, and a statue of the mid-20th century brothel madam Stella Darby was placed out in front. A town once famous for its bootlegging and bordellos, Pendleton was considered by cowboys of the time to be the entertainment capital of the Northwest. Among the 32 saloons and 18 brothels that called Pendleton home, the most notorious of these was Madame Darby’s Cozy Rooms. This statue of Madame Darby, though a bit controversial, reminds visitors of a more colorful part of Pendleton’s history. Stella Darby stands proudly at the entrance to her risqué establishment. The Stella Darby bronze is also the only privately owned statue on the Pendleton Bronze Trail, and is dedicated to Pam Severe, who established the Working Girls Hotel and dedicated her life to preserving Pendleton’s underground history / Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton, after politician and diplomat George H. Pendleton (1825–1889), who served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880. By 1900, Pendleton was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned. The town is the cultural center of Eastern Oregon. Pendleton's "Old town" is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have their property nearby. They have established the Wildhorse Resort & Casino and golf course on the reservation to generate revenue for development and welfare. They have also built the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, for education and interpretation of their cultures. Pendleton Woolen Mills is a maker of wool blankets, shirts, and an assortment of other woolen goods. Founded in 1909 by Clarence, Roy and Chauncey Bishop, the company built upon earlier businesses related to the many sheep ranches in the region. A wool-scouring plant opened in Pendleton in 1893 to wash raw wool for shipping. In 1895, the scouring mill was converted into a mill that made wool blankets and robes for Native Americans. Both businesses failed to survive, but the Bishops, with the help of a local bond issue, enlarged the mill and improved its efficiency. They developed a successful line of garments and blankets with "vivid colors and intricate patterns."