Apparently, a reader wrote to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper asking about the law and women wearing male attire. The newspaper published this brief response in the “Answers to Correspondents” column.
“Answers to Correspondents,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 22, 1887, p. 4.
Transcript:
LAW.—The city ordinances prohibit men or women from appearing on the streets in costumes unbecoming the sex. Under these ordinances a woman may be fined for appearing in male attire.
The Revised Ordinance of the City of St. Louis. St. Louis: Times Printing House, 1881. A digitized copy of the book is available on Google Books.
Looking for the original St. Louis ordinance? See this related source:
The Revised Ordinances of the City of Saint Louis (1843)
Chapter 25 (Misdemeanors), Article 2 (Offenses Against Public Morals and Decency), Section 2, p. 609:
Any person who shall, in this city, appear in any public place, in a state of nudity, or in a dress not belonging to his or her sex, or in an indecent or lewd dress, or shall make an indecent exposure of his or her person, or be guilty of an indecent or lewd act or behavior, or shall exhibit, sell or offer to sell any indecent or lewd book, picture or other thing, or shall exhibit or perform, or permit to be exhibited or performed, upon premises under his or her management or control, any indecent, immoral or lewd play or other representation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof be fined not less than ten nor more than three hundred dollars.
The Ordinances of the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri. Digested and Revised by the Common Council of Said City, in the Years 1860 & 1861. St. Louis: George Knapp & Co., 1861. A digitized copy of the book is available on Archive.org.
Looking for the original St. Louis ordinance? See this related source:
The Revised Ordinances of the City of Saint Louis (1843)
St. Louis is known as the first city in the United States to adopt a cross-dressing ordinance in 1843. This is the revised ordinance as published in 1861.
Misdemeanors (No. 4869), Article 2 (Offenses against Public Morals and Decency), Section 2, p. 511:
Whoever shall, in this city, appear in any public place in a state of nudity, or in a dress not belonging to his or her sex, or in an indecent or lewd dress; or shall make any indecent exposure of his or her person, or be guilty of any indecent or lewd act or behavior; or shall exhibit, sell, or offer to sell, any indecent or lewd book, picture, or other thing; or shall exhibit or perform any indecent, immoral, or lewd play or other representation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
Misdemeanors (No. 4869), Article 6 (Penalties), Section 1, p. 520:
Whoever shall be convicted of a misdemeanor under any provision of this ordinance, in a case where no special penalty is prescribed, shall forfeit and pay to this city a sum not less than three nor more than one hundred dollars for the first offense; for the second offense, of a like nature, he shall forfeit and pay not less than double the minimum penalty aforesaid; for the third offense, of a like nature, not less than treble said minimum; and so on, increasing the minimum three dollars upon each additional conviction.
The Revised Ordinances of the City of Saint Louis. Revised and Digested by the Fifth City Council during the First Session, Begun and Held in the City of St. Louis, on the Second Monday of May, A. D. 1843. St. Louis: Chambers & Knapp, 1843. A digitized copy of the book is available on Archive.org.
St. Louis’s 1843 ordinance is known
as the first cross‑dressing law in the United States.
The cross-dressing ordinance is found in the “Misdemeanors” chapter,
Section 7, p. 303:
§ 7. Every person who shall appear in any street, alley, avenue, market place or public square, or in any other place within the city, when naked, or in a dress not belonging to their sex, or in an indecent or lewd dress, or shall be guilty of any indecent or lewd act or behavior, or shall exhibit any indecent or lewd book, picture, statue, or other thing, or who shall exhibit or perform any immoral or lewd play or other representation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
Section 35, p. 309 (in the same chapter) outlines the penalty for all misdemeanors, a fine from $1 up to a maximum of $100:
§ 35. Every person who shall violate any of the provisions of either of the preceding sections mentioned, shall forfeit to the city of St. Louis, a sum not less than one nor more than one hundred dollars, to be sued for and recovered as other penalties to the city.