Louise Wooster
Louise "Lou" Wooster (born June 12, 1842 in Tuscaloosa - died May 16, 1913 in Birmingham) was an infamous madam who famously assisted the sick and dying during the 1873 cholera epidemic.
Louise was the daughter of William and Mary Chism Wooster of Tuscaloosa. She was orphaned as a teenager, a few years after her stepfather absconded with her mother's money. She followed her older sister into prostitution in Montgomery.
According to her autobiography, Wooster met and fell in love with John Wilkes Booth in 1860, and was inspired to pursue a career in acting. She took the stage in Arkansas and New Orleans, but returned to Mobile when she fell ill and resumed her former trade.
By 1873 Wooster established a brothel on 4th Avenue North in Birmingham. She and her charges demonstrated great care for those afflicted by cholera during the epidemic that year, for which they were praised by Mortimer Jordan, Jr in the Jefferson County Medical Society's report.
Following the outbreak, Wooster established a new house in Montgomery, but had returned to Birmingham by 1880.
When she died in 1913 her lengthy funeral train consisted mostly of empty coaches sent anonymously to honor her passing. Wooster is interred at Oak Hill Cemetery.
In 2007, the UAB School of Public Health inaugurated the Wooster Award for exemplary service in public health. The inaugural winner was Alabama Representative Patricia Todd.
References
- Wooster, L. C. W. (1911) Autobiography of a Magadalen. Birmingham: Birmingham Printing Company.
- Baggett, James (2005) A Woman of the Town: Louise Wooster, Birmingham's Magdalen. Birmingham. Birmingham Public Library Press.
- Baggett, James (Fall 2005) "Louise Wooster: Birmingham's Magdalen." Alabama Heritage.
- Rudd, Steven. City madam finally gets honor she's due. July 1, 2007, Birmingham News. Accessed July 5, 2007.
- Oak Hill Cemetery, Surnames W, Jefferson, Alabama, accessed July 5, 2007.
- Jordan, M. H. (1875) Cholera at Birmingham Alabama in 1873. The Narrative of the 1873 Cholera Epidemic. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office
- "Louise Wooster." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Jun 2007, 23:23 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 Jul 2007 [1].