INDIANAPOLIS -- If you're a regular at the Indiana State Fair, you're probably familiar with the Hook's Drug Store Museum.
The building sits on the southwest side of the fairgrounds, and in days past, it used to host a competition that would be controversial, to say the least, today.
For 12 years, from 1920 to 1932, the Indiana State Fair hosted what was called the "Better Babies" competition.
White Hoosiers – no other race was allowed – competed for ribbons and prizes. The competition was hosted by the State Board of Health's now-defunct Division of Infant and Child Hygiene. It judge little ones on their mental development and their physical health and traits, knocking points off for everything from a misshapen head to delayed teething.
The State Fair was looking for the most perfect babies, and along the way supporting to idea of eugenics.
Hook's eventually took the building over in the 1960s, long after the competitions were ended.
