The mystery of the history of the chair

I would never want to seem ungrateful for a gift but this one has become a bit of nuisance.  My 90-year young father in law tagged this chair for me while prepping his home for an estate sale.  I’m really touched because I know how much it meant to him and my mother in law as they took such great care of it.  The chair was a gift to them from his mother.

As the story goes, the chair came from a brothel in Laramie Wyoming in the 1800’s.  It somehow made it’sway into the family through an uncle that worked for the Union Pacific railway.  My father in law believes the brothel was located near the train depot since it was a common gathering place for the rail workers.

Anyway, with all that said it really doesn’t flow well with my decor.  My youngest daughter won’t let my grandchildren sit on it.  My other daughter took it to her home for a brief period of time while I was downsizing and sent it back because she said it was creepy to look at.

I move it from one room to another and it never looks good.  If I have a guest who happens to sit in it and I tell them where it came from they usually jump right out of it.

I myself have never sat in it, although I’ve been curious to see if it would change my mood at times. 😉

I’ve googled brothels, chairs, and Laramie antiques. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on brothels and very few photos.  My only conclusion so far is that it was either a foyer or parlor piece of furniture.  In that case, to stay with tradition it will remain on my first floor.

If only chairs could talk, it would be a hoot to listen to this one

Originally posted in September of 2017 and I am still moving the chair from one spot to another

Alice