The longest-running U.S. brothel, where a woman with a suitcase is said to descend the stairs
45 E Mercury Street, Butte, MT 59701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Daytime museum admission. Paranormal investigations and overnight stays are priced separately; see the venue website.
Access
Limited Access
Three-story brick building with upper-floor cribs reached by interior stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1890 · Longest Continuously Operating U.S. Brothel · Butte Red-Light District · Preserved Brothel Architecture
The Dumas opened in 1890 in the heart of Butte's red-light district and ran as a brothel until 1982. By the time it closed it was described as the longest continuously operating brothel in the United States, having stayed in business for decades after prostitution was outlawed. The brick building was purpose-built for the trade, with small upstairs rooms, or cribs, opening onto interior corridors.
Elinore Knott served as the Dumas madam in the early 1950s. As the most-repeated account goes, in February 1955 she had planned to leave the brothel with a man she expected to take her away. Her suitcase was packed; he did not arrive. She was found dead on an upper floor the next morning, and her death was ruled to be from natural causes, though period rumor also raised the possibility of suicide or foul play.
The Dumas later reopened as a museum dedicated to the history of Butte's sex trade and the women who worked there. It preserves the original cribs and furnishings and is one of the few intact brothel buildings of its kind in the country.
Sources
The Dumas's signature account is a woman seen carrying a suitcase. Witnesses describe her walking the upstairs hallway from the madam's quarters toward the stairs and then going down, a figure tied to Elinore Knott and the packed suitcase she is said to have left behind in 1955.
One of the most-cited reports comes from an employee in the 1970s who said she was alone in the building one evening when she saw a woman with a suitcase pass the upstairs bathroom door and descend the stairs. A search turned up no one, and she noted there would not have been time for anyone to leave the building. Other visitors over the years have described the same suitcase-carrying figure.
The Dumas leans into this reputation more than most Butte sites, offering paranormal investigations and overnight stays alongside its daytime museum tours. The building's haunting accounts are woven into how it presents the history of the women who lived and worked there.
Notable Entities
A self-guided or docent-led walk through the 1890 building, preserved as a museum of Butte's red-light district. Visitors see the cribs, the parlor, and the upper floors tied to the madam Elinore Knott account.
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