Born: 11 November 1908, United States
Died: 16 February 1990
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Lydia Helen Henja
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Lydia Helen Henja was born in Renfrow, Oklahoma, on November 11, 1908, to Bohemian immigrants. Her father was institutionalized for mental health issues and by 1920 she was living in Omaha, Nebraska, with her mother. In February 1926 she married Ralph Barton, a mechanic living in Sioux City, Iowa. They had a son in November of that year and continued to live in Omaha. The Bartons divorced in 1930, and Lydia and her son moved to Washington, DC.
Her granddaughter Kitty Smith recalls, “Before coming to Washington, DC, she took a Civil Service exam in Omaha. About a year later, she received a letter offering her a job as an elevator operator at the Department of the Interior. Times were tough and she became the breadwinner for her entire family.” She began that job on February 12, 1934.
On November 11, 1935, Barton was promoted to an under clerk with the NPS. She took the Civil Service exam and was quickly promoted to junior clerk. In September 1936 she was promoted the assistant mail, file, and records clerk in the National Capital Parks office. In August 1942 USPP was still trying to fill its new positions (one of which went to Ball as described above). The captain of the USPP “asked her if she would be interested in the very non-monotonous job of being a policewoman—badge, firearms, patrol duty, et al.” After discussing it with her supportive son, she took the Park Police exam on September 19, 1942. Barton became USPP’s second policewoman on October 1, 1942. Although Ball left USPP six weeks later, it seems likely that the two women would have at least been aware of other.
Her captain described her as “one of the best on the force.” In January 1943 Private Barton became the first woman to attend the Park Police Training School, which was started three years earlier. She attended with 15 male colleagues. One newspaper account reportedly described the men as “startled” by her presence at the training session. Another noted that she “upset tradition” by attending. The training included fingerprinting, riflery, searches and seizures, secret code, and laws of arrest. An article in the Evening Star (Washington, DC) noted that Barton “received the same training and pay as the men on the force.”
Her work included “patrolling parks, being a lady truant officer, and handling juvenile and women offenders.” Her “disarming feminine grooming” was listed as an advantage in her role as a plainclothes officer and she reportedly had a “natural gift for winning confidence.”
Smith recalls, “In the beginning she patrolled many of the 72 small DC parks where she famously attracted perverts who she apprehended and called for back up, all while maintaining the evidence. She later moved indoors and set up the entire filing system for the Park Police.” According to family records, Barton attended a five-month training course in 1948 and multiple supervisory training courses over the next decade.
She married Costas Michos in 1950. By 1958 she was promoted to the rank of corporal. In December 1962 she became a sergeant. Known affectionately as “the boss” to her family, Michos is remembered by them as “a strong-willed, independent woman.” Smith recalls, “She once told me that she trained a couple of chiefs, adding that it wasn’t her (or any woman’s) time for leadership.”
Sergeant Michos suffered an on-duty accident in 1965. She retired in 1967 as the officer in charge of the Records Branch. She received the Meritorious Service Award “in recognition of exceptional service in the Department of Interior.”
She died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, Maryland, on February 16, 1990. Although she had retired 23 years earlier, Smith recalls that “more than a dozen Park Police motorcycle patrolmen showed up unexpectedly at the funeral home on their Harleys. The roar of the engines brought tears to my eyes. They escorted their fellow police officer over 20 miles to the cemetery where she is buried, stopping traffic and clearing the way for her precession. What an honor.”