Lillian Olney, Beach Censor of 1925
A Look Back at Ocean City
By Fred Miller
Female bathing suits were changing quickly in the 1920s. When the decade begin a woman’s bathing suit consisted of a heavy wool, loose-fitting dress worn over bloomers and stockings and shoes. By the summer of 1925, women were wearing tight-fitting knit suits with lower necklines and bigger armholes. Stocking and shoes were discarded.
Many in Ocean City did not care for the new bathing suits and they were asking Mayor Joseph G. Champion to hire a beach censor. According to newspaper articles, people were saying that there were altogether too much parading of half nude young men and women on the Boardwalk and streets.
Mayor Champion responded by hiring Ocean City’s first policewoman.The story was reported in newspapers all over the country. “Woman Patrols Beach” was the headline in the July 3, 1925 issue of the Philadelphia Bulletin and the article explained why she was hired: “Miss Lillian Olney is on duty today as Ocean City’s first policewoman. Mayor Champion is determined to enforce the ordinance requiring bathers to wear covering as they go through the streets to and from the beach, and also on the Boardwalk. The new policewoman’s duties will be that of enforcing the ordinance regulating bathing attire.”
Howard Johnson, Ocean City’s Chief of Police, reported Miss Olney was the busiest member of the department during the summer of 1925. She covered a total of 2,525 cases while on duty.
