The Cost of a Working Woman's Morality by Cheryl Rae Johnson

 

What do you do when an influx of single working women arrive in your city without the protection of family?

This was the moral dilemma facing the good people of New York City in 1860. The Ladies Christian Union was especially troubled by this crisis of a new working class of females whom the LCU deemed at risk of losing their moral integrity. The Ladies took it upon themselves to provide Moral Homes for these working women in order to preserve their “purity, dignity, and femininity” and prepare these young women for marriage and motherhood.

The wealthy women who comprised the Ladies Christian Union set the standard by obtaining middle-class homes with a kitchen, parlor, dining room, and a large number of bedrooms to accommodate as many ladies as possible to board. The housemother would refer to the ladies as her “daughters” to give the living space that feeling of home. Servants were also employed so that the ladies did not do their own cooking, laundry, or cleaning, other than their bedroom.

Modern Day View of the first Ladies Christian Union Morality Home
(Wikimedia Commons)

On the surface this sounds wonderful, but whether these morality homes embodied a true sense of home might be up for debate. Strict standards had to be met in order for a lady to be approved for residence. Aside from gainful employment, the lady must provide references to vouch for her moral character. Women had to attend church on Sundays and participate in morning and evening devotions.

But it was the cost that was most daunting. In exchange for rent, which ranged from $3.50-$6.00 per week, they received two meals a day. And laundry services, which were not optional, cost anywhere from fifty cents to a dollar more, depending on the type of garment being washed. 

The women who stayed at these homes worked in factories, the fashionable shops on Ladies’ Mile, or in shops employed as seamstresses. The cost of rent and laundry would have consumed their entire wages. That leaves us wondering why they would pay such a price if it left little money in their reticules. 

Unlike today’s modern woman, gaining some modicum of independence from her family was often enough. Most of these ladies' families could not support feeding its offspring into adulthood. Leaving home meant doing her family a good turn, allowing them to put more money in their pocket. Ladies did not look at these homes as a permanent residence but as the next stop before marriage.

Fifty years after the opening of the first home, women worked in more professional careers with jobs as typists, teachers, artists, and writers. The five morality homes still operated by the Ladies Christian Union could not house the now estimated over fifty thousand working women.

  

YWCA Parlor
(Byron Company Collection, Museum of the City of NY)

YWCA Single Bedroom
(Byron Company Collection, Musuem of the City of NY)

The solution to this problem was the YWCA, which was built with the support of donors such as Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt. For this reason, this home was also known as the Margaret Louisa.

Others caught on to this need as well and built hotels for working women, but, unlike the YWCA, these hotels loosened the rein on morality, giving women the same freedom as men. The Hotel Martha Washington housed five hundred business women. The hotel itself was run by women, and much of the stock was even owned by women, a novel idea in the early 1900s. Two more hotels followed, the Trowmart Inn and the Barbizon Hotel for Women, each of which could house hundreds. 

Trowmart Inn Lobby
(Byron Company Collection, Musuem of the City of NY)

I first learned of these morality homes when I was researching one of my historical romance novels, Dear Miss Keefe. My heroine, Mary Elizabeth Keefe, was a seamstress who found herself alone in New York City after the death of her grandmother. Allowing her to live in a morality home provided wonderful details for my novel, with the endless drama of so many girls staying under the same roof. Although I did not use the term Ladies Christian Union, I included one woman who would have belonged to such an organization. This lady encourages Mary Elizabeth to take up a letter-writing campaign with her very eligible cousin in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thus, an epistolary romance begins and becomes the backdrop for the book.

After a discussion of the rich history and resilience of New York City on September 11, it would be remiss not to remember those who lost their lives in the Twin Towers twenty-five years ago today and to thank all the brave men and women who serve everywhere, whether it be through the police forces, as a firefighter, or in one of the armed services.

Source:  Harkrader, Nina E. “All the Single Ladies: Women Only Buildings in the Early 20^th C. NYC.” The Gotham Center for New York City History. May 9, 2019.   https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/all-the-single-ladies-women-only-buildings-in-early-20th-c-nyc

Cheryl Rae Johnson writes historical romance novels set in the American South. She has made her home in all corners of the US but is now settled on the eastern edge of Texas, where she teaches writing and literature at her local university as well as ministers alongside her husband of over forty years in her local church. She can often be found drinking coffee and hanging out with her ever-growing brood of grandchildren. She loves to connect with her readers. You can join her here:

Cheryl Rae Johnson Website

Amazon Author Page

                              Goodreads

A WOOPs, A Blue Moon, & A Secret City

These three things may seem to have nothing in common. Yet they do in my latest release, a novella called Beneath the Rare Blue Moon.

The story takes place in eastern Tennessee and begins on October 31, 1944, the night of a blue moon.

WOOPs

The heroine, Kathleen Forrest, is with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Women Officer of Public Safety unit. These women were not part of the military, like WACs or WAVEs, and their stories aren’t nearly as well-known.

Yet, their responsibilities were considered so important they were taught judo, trained to handle guns, issued .38 caliber pistols, and often worked with trained military dogs.

Since the men were heading off to fight in WWII, the TVA hired these women to guard and protect potential targets, such as hydroelectric dams, aluminum factories, and other important industries, from sabotage (TVA).

“Blue Moon”

You’ve probably heard of the phrase “once in a blue moon” which, literally, has three definitions:

The second full moon in a month. That means the date falls at the end of the month. 

The third full moon when four moons appear in a season. Usually, only three moons appear in winter, spring, summer, or fall.

The moon’s appearance when, under certain atmospheric conditions, it takes on a bluish hue. This can happen when “volcanic eruptions or large-scale fires release particles into the atmosphere” (Blue Moon).

The next blue moon is May 31, 2026.

Our next seasonal blue moon is May 20, 2027.

The Story ~ Kathleen Forrest, a WOOPs heroine of Beneath the Rare Blue Moon, has an unusual experience on a blue moon night when she disarms a potential “saboteur.”

“Secret City”

To find the “Secret City” on a map, you’ll need to locate Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

It’s also known as the “Atomic City” and, by those who lived and worked there, “The Reservation.”

The town was built by the military as a base for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret atomic bomb research program. 

Here’s the scientific info: 

“The Y-12, K-25, and S-50 plants were each built in Oak Ridge to separate the fissile isotope uranium-235 from natural uranium, which consists almost entirely of the isotope uranium-238. The X-10 site, now the site of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was established as a pilot plant for production of plutonium using the Graphite Reactor, used to develop full-scale plutonium production…” (Oak Ridge).

The Story ~ Kathleen and Army intelligence officer Roger Craig are recruited on a secret mission to find a possible saboteur in the "Secret City." 

I visited Oak Ridge a few years ago. The community center built by the Army as a gathering place for the residents is now a small history museum with amazing exhibits that preserve and honor the town’s legacy.

Beneath a Rare Blue Moon released this week and is available on Amazon.

Johnnie Alexander writes award-winning stories of enduring love and quiet courage. Her historical and contemporary novels weave together unforgettable romance, compelling characters, and a touch of mystery. A sometime hermit and occasional vagabond who most often kicks off her shoes in Florida, Johnnie cherishes cozy family times and enjoys long road trips. Readers are invited to discover glimpses of grace and timeless truth in her stories. Connect with her at johnnie-alexander.com.

Photos

Norris Dam ~ By Johnnie Alexander

City Seal. By http://www.cortn.org/PW-html/CDBGConsolidatedPlanHomePage2008.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64434822

Aerial View. By Department of Energy Oak Ridge - http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1931232 

Shift Change. By Ed Westcott / US Army / Manhattan Engineer District - Ed Westcott / American Museum of Science and Energy, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7006834

Billboard outside Oak Ridge. By James E. Westcott - https://www.flickr.com/photos/amse/2965051856/sizes/z/in/photostream/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12075242

The Chapel on the Hill ~ By Johnnie Alexander

Sources ~ Each source accessed on December 5, 2025.

Blue Moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon.

Oak Ridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee. Accessed December 5, 2025.

TVA. https://www.tva.com/the-powerhouse/stories/home-front-defenders. Accessed December 5, 2025.

The Other United Nations: Washington Hospitality for WWII Soldiers

 

During World War II, thousands of soldiers traveled through Washington, D.C., on their way to or from their assigned military bases. One of the stops available to them while in the capital city was the United Nations Service Center.

Not to be confused with the United Nations organization, which was created after the war ended in 1945, the Service Center was in operation in 1943 and possibly earlier. During the war, the term United Nations became the official name for the Allies who joined together to oppose the Axis.

More than 100 photographs taken in December 1943 by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information (OWI) document the Service Center’s existence, but additional details are few. Conveniently located near Union Station, the address was 500 North Capitol St. N.W. There’s some indication the Service Center was housed in a hotel, as that was the location of The Commodore from 1927 until 1982, when it became the Phoenix Park Hotel, still in use.

Officers' lounge at the United Nations Service Center

According to the Service Men’s Map of Washington, lodging at the Service Center was available for $1.00, and hotel accommodations for $1.75-$2.00. Men and women in uniform, and wives and children of service men, could utilize the facility.

Directed and staffed by volunteers, the center contained a reception desk, lounge, shower and dressing rooms, laundry, bedrooms, telephones, library, and a canteen. Even a nursery was available to provide day care for children of service men. Families would sometimes stay at the Service Center and enjoy a few days of sight-seeing while the service member was on leave.

Servicemen with several hours between trains could catch
 some sleep in the lounge at the United Nations Service Center

Military members in transit could shower, shave and do laundry
without having to engage a hotel room

WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service),
just off a train, freshened up in the UN Service Center
powder room

Of course, this was not the only place in Washington that catered to members of the military. The previously mentioned Service Men’s Map, published by the War Hospitality Committee in May 1944, provided “full information on service clubs, entertainment, and sightseeing.” The brochure listed a dozen lodging places for service men open every night, as well as ten locations, mostly churches, that were available only certain nights of the week. Several offered rooms free, and some included a free breakfast as well.

The helpful map-brochure (printed through the courtesy of the Pepsi-Cola Company) also noted that a soldier could record his or her own voice free at the Pepsi-Cola Service Club to send back home, and could get film developed free at National Catholic Community Service.

The hospitality organizations in Washington are an example of the thousands of service and transit centers that served as vital waystations for military personnel traveling through busy cities across the country. Many were established by the USO (United Service Organizations) and offered social and recreational activities. Most closed by late 1946–early 1947 as military demobilization was completed. But during the war, they combined volunteer, civic, business, and governmental efforts to boost morale and offer comfort to millions of American troops.

SOURCES:

Service Men’s Map of Washington, War Hospitality Committee, Civilian War Services, Washington, D.C.

United States Office Of War Information, Esther Bubley, photographer

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

Her historical short story, “All That Glistens,” was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes.

Florida Artists ~ George Inness, Jr.

I confess I’d never heard of George Inness, Jr. (nor George Inness, Sr., also recognized as an important artist) before researching Florida artists.

And yet, this renowned landscape artist and philanthropist contributed so much to the one Florida town’s cultural development that it is often referred to as the City of Arts.

That town is Tarpon Springs, located on the west coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay area, and it’s also known for its Greek heritage, freshly caught fish, and sponge-diving. (I’ve been a tourist there ~ the fish and the baklava are great and you can buy all kinds and sizes of sponges!)

Mr. Inness (January 5, 1854 – July 27, 1926) was born in Paris, France and lived an intercontinental life. While living on the East Coast of the U.S., his father often took him to Europe. 

He began his artistic career as a magazine illustrator but eventually attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He later opened a studio and even became “an Officer in the Académie des Beaux Arts, a rare distinction for an American” (Hall of Fame).

Once he returned to the U.S. in 1900, Mr. Inness became a snowbird. He lived in Cragsmoor, New York, but wintered in Tarpon Springs. The latter is where he spent his most productive years as a landscape painter.

The Unitarian Universalist Church in that Florida city owns eleven of his works. A few of these are murals painted on the church sanctuary walls.

Museums that include his paintings in their collections include: 

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• New Jersey’s Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
• Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Daytona Beach, FL 

“He is recognized as a great Florida artist for his depiction of the state’s unspoiled landscapes full of the flora and fauna of his time” (Hall of Fame)."

Here’s an interesting tidbit ~ Financial success seemed to be launched after Mr. Inness sold a large painting of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington to his father-in-law, the founder of a publishing company.

Mr. Inness’s 27-room Florida home, known as Inness Manor, became a famed artists’ colony. It boasted a large painting studio and artists’ cottages where other prominent painters often visited.

Chetolah, his New York home, has its own claim to fame ~ it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Johnnie Alexander is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of more than thirty works of fiction in multiple genres. She is both traditionally and indie-published, serves as board secretary for the Mosaic Collection, LLC (an indie-author group) and faculty chair for the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference; co-hosts Writers Chat, a weekly online show; and contributes to the HHHistory.com blog. With a heart for making memories, Johnnie is a fan of classic movies, stacks of books, and road trips. Connect with her at JohnnieAlexander.com.

Photos

George Inness, Jr. Portrait By Internet Archive Book Images ~ https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43632603; no restrictions

Sources

Hall of Fame ~ https://dos.fl.gov/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/george-inness-jr/

Unitarian Universalist Church in Tarpon Springs ~ https://www.uutarpon.org/inness-paintings/

Victoria Woodhull's Historic Presidential Bid: A Woman Ahead of Her Time

With the 2024 presidential campaign in full swing, it’s time to learn about the first woman candidate for president of the United States, who happened to be in jail at the time of the election.

Victoria Woodhull declared her candidacy in the New York Herald on Saturday, April 2, 1870. Women were not granted the constitutional authority to vote until 1920, and Woodhull would not even reach the required age of 35 before her inauguration, if she won.

Victoria Woodhull, 1882 candidate
for U.S. President against Grant,
preferred wearing purple

Woodhull herself submitted the article, titled “The Coming Woman,” and included her views on home and foreign policy, as well as “new ideas on government.” She stated, “I anticipate criticism,” but said, “having the means, courage, energy and strength necessary for the race intend to contest it to the close.”

Born Victoria California Claflin in Ohio in 1838, she married 28-year-old Canning Woodhull at the age of 15. Her husband, a doctor, was an alcoholic and philanderer, and Victoria divorced him in 1865 after 12 years of marriage. Though she continued to use the name Woodhull publicly, she eventually married twice more.

It was likely the experience of her first marriage that caused Victoria to advocate what she called “free love.” She did not approve of promiscuity but insisted that individuals should be able to stay with romantic partners as long as they chose and then be free to move on. The movement sought to destigmatize divorce and make it easier for women to leave abusive husbands.

She also became involved in the women’s suffrage movement, and in 1871 was the first woman to testify before a Congressional committee. Along with Susan B. Anthony and Isabella Beecher Hooker, she spoke to the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that American women already had the right to vote under the 14th and 15th Amendments. The committee declined to draft legislation clarifying that right, however.

Victoria partnered with her younger sister, Tennessee Claflin, to start a brokerage firm in 1870, making them the first women stock brokers. Newspapers dubbed them “the Bewitching Brokers” and “Queens of Finance.” The women used their financial success to start a newspaper called Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly, which supported women’s suffrage, free love, and other political reforms.

In declaring her candidacy for president, Woodhull wrote, “While others argued the equality of woman with man, I proved it by successfully engaging in business; while others sought to show that there was no valid reason why woman should be treated socially and politically as a being inferior to man, I boldly entered the arena of politics and business and exercised the rights I already possessed.”

Newspapers announced Woodhull's
nomination for President in 1872

She remained self-nominated until 1872, when the new Equal Rights Party selected her as their candidate for president. The party also nominated well-known abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass for vice president, but Douglass never accepted the nomination.

The sisters’ newspaper published an article claiming the famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher, one of Victoria’s strongest critics, had an affair with a married woman in his congregation. The ensuing controversy resulted in charges of obscenity rather than libel, and Victoria and her sister were arrested and jailed, remaining there through Election Day. The legal troubles forced them to discontinue publication of their weekly paper.

At the time, political parties, not the government, printed ballots for elections. No records exist of how many people (only men could vote, of course) voted for Woodhull. Anecdotal evidence indicates she received at least a few votes, but not enough to win any electors.

After divorcing her second husband, Victoria moved to England. She returned to the United States a few times and attempted unsuccessfully to run for president again, but she married for the third time and lived in England until 1927, when she died at age 88.

Controversy never stopped Victoria Woodhull from fighting for her beliefs, and she remained politically active until her death.

Sources:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/victoria-woodhull

Victoria Woodhull announces her candidacy on Apr. 2, 1870 in the New York Herald - Newspapers.com™

Victoria Woodhull & Company | The Spirit to Run the White House (victoria-woodhull.com)

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed third in Inspirational Romance in the nationally recognized Maggie Awards, and is a finalist in the Touched By Love Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

Her historical short story, “All That Glistens,” set in her home region of western Kentucky, was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares historical tidbits, recommended books, "behind the scenes" writing info, and sometimes vintage recipes.