Today, a Hutchinson police officer may be called when a bar fight breaks out, but in the 1920s, a Hutchinson police matron dropped in at dance halls to assess whether girls were dressed appropriately.
If Police Matron Marie Baldwin deemed some girls needed more clothing, she tapped them on the shoulder and sent them home.
“I am not a granny about these things,” Baldwin was quoted in the newspaper. “But there are some things that go too far or not far enough as the case may be.”
An exhibit highlighting the history — sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic — of the Hutchinson Police Department opens at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Reno County Museum, 100 S. Walnut St.
(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)