She, her husband, and their two sons later lived in several U.S. cities, where Baldwin engaged in volunteer social work related to unwed mothers and other young women in trouble.

Born Aurora "Lola" Greene in 1860, in Elmira, New York, Baldwin grew up largely in Rochester, where her family moved when she was quite young.

During her remaining years in Lincoln, she found paid clerical work, and volunteered as a social worker focused on helping "wayward" girls.

[5] After they left Lincoln in 1893, over the next 10 years the Baldwins lived variously in Boston, Yonkers, Norfolk, and Providence, Rhode Island, as LeGrand pursued his dry goods career.

[5] In each city the family moved to, Baldwin continued her volunteer work, including serving on the boards of two Florence Crittenton Homes.

[10] The Portland YWCA hired Baldwin as project supervisor with funds provided partly by the national Travelers Aid committee.

When the exposition opened on June 1, 1905, volunteers met young women at Union Station and other entry points to the city and offered advice about lodging and employment, and in some cases other aid such as meal vouchers.

Volunteers patrolled the exposition, especially venues such as risque sideshows, dimly lit structures, the beer garden, and the shooting gallery (carnival game), all of which they considered sexually dangerous.

[15] An elaborate system supported the business of prostitution, which flourished in brothels, hotels, rooming houses, saloons, and other places, especially in the red-light district north of Burnside Street in the central city.

[20] Baldwin was one of 15 commissioners appointed to the Portland Vice Commission in 1911 to study the problem of venereal disease (VD) and its relation to the commercial sex trade.

[23] Another commission study conducted between mid-1911 and late 1912 found that police had raided 216 vice establishments and made 1,900 prostitution arrests during the prior 18 months.

[24] During the years that Baldwin led the WPD, this included not only brothels but also fortune-telling establishments, massage parlors, shooting galleries, and dance halls.

She said this was evidenced by such things as tobacco smoking by women, increased juvenile delinquency, and the rise of the flapper "bad girl" mode of dress and behavior.