Beauty contests were already a popular idea, run with photo submissions to newspapers across the country, when the business interests of Atlantic City hit on the idea of creating one for their “Fall Frolic” event. They concluded an agreement with the nearby newspapers: the papers would hold local beauty contests, with the winner receiving a free outfit (courtesy of the paper) and a free trip to Atlantic City (courtesy of the Businessmen’s League of Atlantic City) to participate in a new inter-city event for the title of “Miss America.”

On this day, September 7, in 1921 the first “Inter City Beauty” pageant, later to be called “Miss America” kicked off in Atlantic City. Only a handful of women competed for the title, but the events, which included a “bather’s revue” with swimsuits, drew a crowd of 100,000.

The winner, chosen in a mutual decision by judges and crowd, was a young woman named Margaret Gorman, soon to be a junior at Western High School in Washington, D.C. Gorman stood at 5”1’ and weighed in just over 100 pounds. Her youthful exuberance and uncanny resemblance to the star of screen Mary Pickford no doubt played in her favor. Samuel Gompers, the founder of the American Federation of Labor praised her: “She represents the type of womanhood America needs — strong, red blooded, able to shoulder the responsibilities of homemaking and motherhood. It is in her type that the hope of the country rests.”