14 Facts About Lola Baldwin

Aurora "Lola" Greene Baldwin was an American woman who became one of the first policewomen in the United States.

Lola Baldwin relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she taught, then married.

She, her husband, and their two sons later lived in several US cities, where Lola Baldwin engaged in volunteer social work related to unwed mothers and other young women in trouble.

In 1904, when Lola Baldwin was 44, the family moved to Portland, where her husband continued his dry goods career.

Women's groups such as the Travelers Aid Society, concerned that the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, scheduled for 1905 in Portland, posed a danger to single women working at the fair, hired Lola Baldwin to supervise a project to protect girls and women.

Lola Baldwin promoted laws to protect women, advised other jurisdictions about women's law-enforcement issues, and demonstrated by example that women could be effective police officers.

Lola Baldwin, sometimes referred to as a "municipal mother", died in Portland on June 22,1957, at the age of 97.

Lola Baldwin passed the New York State qualifying exam for teachers, and taught near Rochester until 1880 when she moved alone to Lincoln, Nebraska, a city that was seeking teachers.

Lola Baldwin gave birth to two sons, Myron and Pierre.

In each city the family moved to, Lola Baldwin continued her volunteer work, including serving on the boards of two Florence Crittenton Homes.

Lola Baldwin worked in the store's business office and joined the board of the city's Florence Crittenton Home.

Troubled by changing cultural norms after World War I, Lola Baldwin retired from the police force in 1922.

Lola Baldwin said this was evidenced by such things as tobacco smoking by women, increased juvenile delinquency, and the rise of the flapper "bad girl" mode of dress and behavior.

LeGrand Baldwin died in 1941; Lola Baldwin died in 1957, at the age of 97.