Meet The Mysterious Dr. Bach, St. Cloud’s Controversial Figure [AUDIO]

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- In this month's local history feature, we're learning about a man who allegedly operated a house of ill repute in St. Cloud.

Benton County Historical Society Executive Director Lacey Fontaine says Dr. William Bach owned a home and lived in East St. Cloud, making him a resident of Benton County. But he operated his businesses across the river in St. Cloud's historic southside neighborhood.

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Fontaine points out that most local research is done about heroes from our past, but this is a story of a man who had a long list of legal troubles.

Bach was born in Germany in 1873 and came to the United States around 1891.

While Bach called himself a doctor, he was accused of practicing medicine without a license in Ramsey County in 1917.

Benton County Historical Society/Jim Maurice

He shows up in St. Cloud around 1918 when there is a massive raid at the sanitorium that he was running after police received several noise complaints from neighbors.

And then the police finally moved in.  It was early September of 1918.  The St. Cloud Daily Times reported that several men had been found inside, and some actually fled the scene as well.

Fotaine says Bach only received a $100 fine from the incident, and the names of the men who were involved were never made public.

The paper had said some well-known citizens are cured.  So it could be speculated that the people who were connected to the house might have been prominent citizens of both Benton County and Stearns County at the time.  So that's maybe why he was not pursued more aggressively.

Fontaine says before World War I, brothels were common in river towns, and local officials often looked the other way. But, during the war, there was a major nationwide crackdown on prostitution houses because there was concern about diseases among the soldiers.

The sanitorium, likely operating as a brothel, was about a block from the historic Foley Mansion at 385 4th Avenue South.  Bach's home, which he built at 123 Southeast 2nd Street (pictured above) in East St. Cloud, is a vacant lot now. Newspaper reports indicated he intended to move his sanatorium to that eastside location.

After the legal issues in 1918, Bach remained a resident in Benton County.  Court records show there was a lawsuit involving his home in East St. Cloud.

In 1921, he changed his name to Dr. Alfred Bach, and he's accused of holding a former co-worker against her will at a sanatorium near Lake Minnetonka.  In that case, he was sentenced to six weeks in jail.  From that point on, the trail of Dr. Bach goes cold with no other records of him.  Fontaine says there is a suggestion that he may have moved to California after he was released from jail.

Listen to the full conversation between Benton County Historical Society Executive Director Lacey Fontaine and WJON News Director Jim Maurice.