When she died she bequeathed her life savings to the City of Omaha, along with her room mansion brothel , which was used as a hospital. Little is known about Wilson's early life. Unsubstantiated rumors circulated around Omaha that she was born into an aristocratic Southern family. Wilson and her long-time partner, Dan Allen , were together in , when famous Lincoln prostitute Josie Washburn worked for her.
After Allen died Wilson started investing in real estate. She amassed a large amount of money, and according to one account, half her fortune was made in the last ten years of her life from the purchase and sale of real estate.
By , her initial career choice provided sufficient funds for her to build a room mansion at Douglas Street. It was a three-story, room building with racy artwork. It became the Omaha Emergency Hospital and for many years served as a communicable-disease treatment center.
The building was razed in the s. In her will, Wilson made a clause that she should be buried under nine feet of concrete , so that the "respectable" society women of the town didn't disinter her body from her resting place by Allen and move it out of Prospect Hill.
Thomas L. Kimball because of Anna's generosity over the years toward the Creche Home for Children. Kimball's son, Thomas Rogers Kimball, continued the tradition after her death. Thomas was a prominent architect whose buildings include St. After his death in , the tradition stopped; however, over the years there have been many reports of flowers left on Memorial Day. In they honoured Wilson. The business is named after Anna Wilson and her former employee, Josie Washburn. A speakeasy type of bar called Anna's Place located in Hotel Indigo is named after her.
