Forepaugh's Restaurant

Minnesota · United States · Execution site

Joseph Forepaugh made his fortune in dry goods, bought a St Paul mansion, and fell for a servant named Molly. His wife found them.

Forepaugh's Restaurant in St Paul, Minnesota occupies a Victorian mansion and is named for the man who built it. Joseph Forepaugh made his money in the dry goods trade, bought the house when his fortune was made, and took on servants to go with it.

He became particularly attached to one of them. Her name was Molly, and the two of them began an affair.

Mrs Forepaugh found them together, and everything that followed in the house followed from that discovery. Both Forepaugh and Molly came to bad ends, and the mansion has carried the story ever since.

The building is a working restaurant, so the accounts come from staff and diners rather than from investigators. Molly is the presence identified in most of them, and the reports are concentrated in the upper floors of the house rather than in the dining rooms.

It is one of the better documented Victorian scandals in the twin cities, and one of the few where the house at the centre of it survived intact and open to the public.

FAQ

Where is Forepaugh's Restaurant located?

Forepaugh's Restaurant is in Minnesota, United States.

Image: Bmzuckerman / CC BY 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons