will kickoff its centennial salute to Lola Green
Baldwin on April 1, 2008; 100 years to the day that
she took the "police service" oath of office given to
her by then Mayor Harry Lane at Portland's City Hall.
Starting at 7:30pm, there will be a reading of the
proclamation just issued by current Portland Mayor Tom
Potter declaring "April 1, Lola Greene Baldwin
Centennial Day in Portland," then historian Gloria E.
Myers will give a free presentation:
World: Policing Vice in Post-Victorian Portland." A
free reception and exhibits honoring early female
police officers and crime detection in the West will
be on display in the Vanport Room (Room 338) of PSU's
Smith Memorial Center beginning at 7:00pm.
The City of Portland is understandably proud of its
adopted daughter, a native of Elmira, New York and a
former schoolteacher from Lincoln, Nebraska, who made
rescuing and rehabilitating runaway girls and
vulnerable women from a life of vice; the main focus
of her career. In addition to the Mayor's
proclamation, Baldwin's portrait and achievements are
prominently posted on the historical timeline on
portlandonline.com, the official website for the City
of Portland.
"In 1908, the Portland crusader against vice
became America's first policewoman, leading the
ragtime drive for 'social hygiene' in Stumptown,"
wrote Jonathan Nicholas in his "Luminaries:
of 'Em column" for the Oregonian newspaper. An
exhibit of Lola's logbooks and artifacts from her
years of police service are on display at the Portland
Police Museum located on the 16th floor of the Justice
Center at 1111 SW 2nd Ave in downtown Portland. The
Portland Police Museum and the Wells Fargo History
Museum are co-sponsors of the April 1 tribute to Lola
Baldwin and the American policewomen who followed in
her footsteps.
This Friends of History event is one of several free
events they present at Portland State University
including panel discussions, commemorations,
symposiums and the April 17 Endowed Lecture with
Iranian expert Ervand Abrahamian for the education of
the students and the general public. Parking is free
in the PSU parking structures after 7pm. For more
information on this event or other Friends of History
events please call KC Piccard at (503)725-5473.
