Protecting Young Women at the Train Depots
Fearing a repeat of the 'world's fair' disappearances, the YWCA seeks city funding for station matrons.
During the world's fair at Chicago, 700 girls who went to that city dropped out of sight forever. To prevent such a contingency in Tacoma this summer, when thousands will come here, the Y.W.C.A. last night appealed to the city for financial assistance in providing matrons for the depots to look after young women visitors.
“To prevent such a contingency in Tacoma this summer, when thousands will come here, the Y.W.C.A. last night appealed to the city.”
This reflects early 20th-century anxiety about urban mobility and the vulnerability of young women traveling alone. Today, transit agencies still maintain human-presence initiatives to address safety concerns in public hubs, though the framing of moral protection has shifted toward general safety and human trafficking prevention.
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