Stella Darby (1902 – 1977) was a beloved madam in Pendleton, Oregon. She is now remembered with a bronze statue and through ongoing Underground Pendleton Tours that operate out of her former brothel.
The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Pendleton, Oregon, has a long history of sex work. Pendleton started as a vice town, attracting more bars, brothels, and businesses that catered to single men, as opposed to family oriented establishments, because of its proximity to a military base and logging camps. As early as World War I, state officials across the country worked to eradicate sex workers by conflating them with vectors of disease. During World War II, the War Department authorized “prostitution-free zones”, effectively criminalizing promiscuity in proximity to military bases. But Pendleton’s economy, which depended on entertainment and various forms of vice, proved hard to suppress.
The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Pendleton, Oregon, has a long history of sex work.
Pendleton’s police department was deemed to, “have no control over gambling and prostitution,” in the town, and by 1942, most soldiers in the area knew that, “all roads lead to Pendleton for those seeking recreation.” The town was known as a sex work center and one of the most popular brothels was The Cosy Rooms, owned by Madam Stella L. Darby.
Born Stella Louella Richardson in 1902, she opened the six-girl brothel in downtown Pendleton, Oregon in 1928. The Cosy Rooms occupied space on the second floor of the Medernach Building located at 333-339 South Main Street. The stairs that led to the brothel became known as the “32 Steps to Heaven.” The brothel thrived alongside saloons, opium dens, and theaters in the area.
One of the most popular brothels was The Cosy Rooms, owned by Madam Stella L. Darby.
The archive doesn’t provide a ton of detail about Stella Darby’s early years. According to her contemporaries, the twenty year old had never been a sex worker, but her brothel became one of Pendleton’s most popular spots.
We do know that Stella Darby married twice. Her first marriage ended in divorce in 1937, and in 1946 she married Royal Jean Eicker, a World War II veteran and laborer. Eicker moved into Stella Darby’s place in Pendleton, near the brothel. He worked as a printer and owned a janitorial services business in 1957. The couple divorced in 1957 for cruelty, but Eicker remained a tenant in Stella Darby’s property, possibly as a boarder, for many years. Regardless of her marital status, in each city directory Stella is listed as “Stella L. Darby” and is listed as the proprietor of the “Cosy Rooms.”
Stella Darby is said to have been a rather benevolent person, always giving food and clothing to those in need. She encouraged her employees to pursue an education, save their money, and to strive for higher social status. Stella and her employees were not welcome at local churches, so she built a small chapel inside the brothel and traveling preachers would often give sermons as they passed through town.
Stella Darby is said to have been a rather benevolent person, always giving food and clothing to those in need.
The Cosy Rooms closed in 1967 and Stella Darby died ten years later in Walla Walla, Washington in October 1977. In 1993, Stella’s biographer, Pam Severe McKay, purchased the old brothel and converted The Cosy Rooms into The Working Girls Hotel. The Medernach Building is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently owned by Pendleton Underground Tours. In 2014, a bronze statue of Stella Darby was sculpted by a local art teacher and placed at the museum’s entrance. This sculpture is the only privately-owned piece on the Pendleton Bronze Trail. Because of this installation, today, Stella Darby still greets new guests of her once infamous establishment.
