GALENA — Residents of Galena have launched a campaign to save a Main Street building that their ancestors tried to shut down. The Joplin, Mo., Globe reports a petition drive is urging the city to save the building that housed the Steffleback Bordello. Galena Mayor Dale Oglesby told the former bordello is an important part of the city’s history and he says he fully supports the group’s effort to buy, stabilize and renovate the downtown building, ghosts and all. At his request, the building was taken off the city’s condemnation list. Historians relate that although Ma Steffleback offered the lure of a night in paradise, her family also had a habit of sending some customers to paradise.
Some newspapers of the time compared Ma Steffleback’s family to another notorious group of Kansas innkeepers, the “Bloody Benders” of Labette County. Most of Ma Steffleback’s family ended up in prison for murder and theft. She died in prison in 1909 at the age of 79 after serving 10 years. The building is a popular stop for area ghost hunters who savor the building’s “unwelcoming” ambience and who say the building is a hot spot for weird noises and other paranormal activity.
Wednesday, Aug. 29, 6 a.m.