Oasis Bordello Museum

When the mining town of Wallace, Idaho was founded in 1884 following the discovery of its natural abundance of silver, men outnumbered women 200 to 1. Like many Western mining towns, this led to the opening of brothels- which were seen as acceptable and necessary parts of the towns.

Little is known about the early days of the Oasis, although records suggest that the brothel dates back to the early 1900’s and was possibly called Club Rooms during this time. The earliest records available also place the Oasis in the same building since the 1940’s. The Bi Metallic Building was built in 1895 and served for many years as a hotel and saloon. Wallace was still being developed from a cedar swamp at the time and so some cedar stumps are still visible in the crawl space underneath the building’s front end. Several distinctive features have remained from its original days- including mosaic floor tiles in the lobby which were imported from China in the late 1800’s. The building was also notable for its being one of only a handful of buildings in Wallace at the time that survived the notorious 1910 fire which destroyed a third of the town.

The Oasis Bordello changed hands several times in the mid 1900’s, until a woman who went by the name “Ginger Murphy” arrived in Wallace in 1963. In tandem with the two other mysetrious women she arrived with, Murphy ushered in a new, more distinguished, and more organized era for the Oasis and Wallace’s prostitution industry. Murphy bought the Oasis, alongside another brothel on the same strip. She and the other two new madames in town- Dolores Arnold and Lora Delmonte- reportedly ran tight ships and gained overwhelmingly positive reputations in the community. Murphy, in particular, was known for sizeable donations to the police department, local charities, and public education. After the opening of the Oasis Bordello as a museum in 1993, a group of former students from Wallace High School brought one of their old band uniforms to the museum and asked that it be hung in Ginger Murphy’s old room, since they were all donated to the high school by her during the 80’s. According to local legend, this stemmed from an agreement between the brothels and the high school that the band would not practice in the streets during early morning so as not to wake the girls, who were always still asleep after a long night of work.

Due to mines closing and the worsening AIDS epidemic, most brothels in Wallace closed sometime in the 70’s and 80’s except for two- one of which was The Oasis, still run by Ginger Murphy. During this time, prostitution was as popular as ever in Wallace. Girls at the Oasis worked 16 hour shifts, seeing 45 men per night, and raking in up to $2000 each on busy weekends. They split their wages 60/40 with the house. Murphy, whom the girls called “mom”, always kept at least five girls available in the Oasis at any given time. Most of the women were transients- only staying in Wallace for a few months before moving on. One exception to this however, was a girl who called herself “Casey”. Casey worked at the Oasis under Ginger for ten years, and reportedly had many admirers. One even drew a sketch of her that can be seen hanging in the downstairs.

The Oasis closed its doors suddenly in January of 1988 after Murphy received a tip that the FBI was coming to Wallace and that the Oasis would be raided. Murphy and the five girls gathered as much as they each could carry of their personal affects (of which most had very little) and left the Oasis behind that night. In actuality, was planning to come to Wallace, but for different reasons. Federal agents investigating possible corruption in the Wallace Police Department eventually came later that year and set up offices in the area. Since they ended up staying for two years, Ginger Murphy never returned to her former business. She retired in northern Idaho with a small fortune. The building was sold in 1993 to a couple who found the interior to be perfectly preserved as it had been left five years prior. They opened the Oasis Bordello Museum later that year.

The museum attempts to highlight both the rich history of western brothels as well as the humanity of the women who worked in them. Small, but fascinating insights into their personalities and daily lives abound. Surrounding the price list tacked to the wall are a variety of colorful stickers which include the likes of Strawberry Shortcake and Minnie Mouse. In the living room, the bookshelves are stacked with romance novels, magazine issues, toys, and records by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. And finally, sitting on the table in front of her bedroom’s television, is the purported favorite pastime of the motherly and financially adept Madame Ginger- her Atari gaming system. 

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