University Press of Kentucky to Release MADAM BELLE by Maryjean Wall

Historian Thomas D. Clark often claimed that Lexington, Kentucky, long entertained an "infatuation" with Belle Brezing. In truth, there is little known about this alluring and notorious brothel keeper. Secrecy was a moral code in her sequestered world of prostitution, even though the trade operated openly in the Lexington neighborhood surrounding what is now Eastern Street in downtown's east end. Today, that sense of allure continues to draw people into her fold just has it did over a century ago.

In Madame Belle: Sex, Money, and Influence in a Southern Brothel, former Lexington Herald-Leader turf writer Maryjean Wall sheds new light on the tantalizing true story of vice and power in the Gilded Age South as told through the life and times of the notorious Miss Belle. After years on the streets and in an upscale bordello run out of a former residence of Mary Todd Lincoln, Belle Brezing borrowed enough money to set up her own brothel. She leveraged that first house and her early connections with wealthy patrons to purchase the more suitably ostentatious 59 Megowan Street. Here, on any twilit evening in Lexington, it was common to see fashionable international travelers, horsemen, and civic leaders mounting the five steps to the elegant house.

The well-heeled nature of her establishment allowed it to become a social hangout for the men who controlled the economy, politics, and horse industries of Kentucky. Belle's vaunted secrecy and discretion with such powerful figures often paid dividends, most notably when she was quietly pardoned by Kentucky Governor Luke Blackburn for keeping a "bawdy house."

By the end of the early 1900s, Lexington hardly resembled its former self. For Belle the end was near as progressive movements sought to eliminate "all un-Godly activities," including gambling, alcohol, and prostitution. Many of Belle's competitors never believed anti-prostitution efforts would gain enough support to make a difference. Belle, however, could see the writing on the wall and, despite her seemingly deep need to continue working, began to think about life after the brothel. While she continued to work following several rounds of crack-downs, eventually her business began to dwindle, and Belle closed the doors on her operation for good in 1917.

From the time Belle closed her business until her death in 1940, the once-enterprising madam lived out her retirement as a recluse in her crumbling, ivy-covered mansion. Upon her passing, though, evidence of Belle's notoriety was made clear when the Lexington Herald's entire run of nineteen thousand newspaper copies containing its remembrance of Belle sold out by ten that Tuesday morning. News of Belle's death also reached national levels with an obituary in Time magazine. Her renown was further secured for future generations when she was widely credited as Margaret Mitchell's inspiration for Madam Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind.

Wall's account of Belle Brezing is more than a simple biography. It presents a case study in how concepts of morality-and the city of Lexington-have changed over time as well as a glimpse into the life of a remarkable woman whose shrewd sense of business allowed her to infiltrate the highest circles of power.

Maryjean Wall served as the turf writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader for thirty-five years. The author of How Kentucky Became Southern: A Tale of Outlaws, Horse Thieves, Gamblers, and Breeders, she holds a doctorate and is an instructor in the department of history at the University of Kentucky.

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