Department of Public Safety

March is Women's History Month, and so it is only fitting to look back in the archives to Miss Florence Carroll, the first woman inspector in the Excise Office.

Miss Carroll had been a stenographer-clerk in the Excise Office for several years, at a salary of $135 a month. With the promotion to an inspectorship in August of 1937, her salary rose to $166.66 a month. She was assigned mostly to hotels and restaurants. As an inspector, she was required to see that no minors or intoxicated persons were served, that the license issued had not expired, that the room in which liquor was served was well lighted, and that bottles from which drinks were dispensed were kept on display.

The appointment of a woman to the position of inspector was in keeping with the post-prohibition policy of allowing women to frequent the same drinking places as men.

In an article from The Star, dated Sept. 17, 1937, Miss Carroll was asked if there was any difference between herself and the male inspectors in the Excise Office. "I don't carry a revolver," she said. 

Today, the title for the job is Liquor Control Officer and pay ranges from $1,169 to $1,733 bi-weekly. Several women have followed in Carroll's footsteps. The Excise Division is charged by City Charter with the regulation and control of liquor within the City of St. Louis and processes approximately 2,300 Liquor License applications/renewals.

 

Department of Public Safety

City of St. Louis