From 1920 to 1932, you could bring these with you to be judged at the Indiana State Fair in the building that now houses Hook’s Drug Store Museum.
Children
The Hook’s Drug Store Museum building was once called the Better Babies Building where you could bring your children to be judged like livestock at the Indiana State Fair. The baby competition started in 1920 and was modeled after a similar competition that started in 1911 at the Iowa State Fair. The Better Babies Building really became more of a nursery where parents dropped off their kids while they checked out the rest of the fair. The Indiana State Fair even eventually had to limit the number of babies in the building to 1200. But there was a nice $8 prize for the best baby! By 1932 people started thinking that maybe weighing, measuring and judging kids was a little creepy so the competition was canceled. What’s your favorite memory of the Indiana State Fair? What are you looking forward to this year?
– Dave O’Brien
Photo Credit: Tom-Prokop/ Thinkstock
