Clark County's Baby Contests Hid Darker Eugenics Agenda

Troubling pseudoscience and rising Klan influence undermined early 20th century baby beauty pageants.

Apr. 19, 2026 at 5:55pm

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A brightly colored, high-contrast silkscreen print of a vintage baby bottle repeated in a tight grid pattern, in the style of Andy Warhol. The image utilizes flat, vibrant, and unnatural neon color palettes overlapping with heavy black photographic outlines to turn an everyday baby item into modern pop art.The baby contests of the early 20th century, though seemingly innocent, were tainted by the spread of dangerous eugenics pseudoscience and white supremacist ideologies.Vancouver Today

Before World War I, county and state fairs across America held baby contests where doctors, nurses, and officials would judge infants on physical measurements, mental and physical fitness, and physical appearance. While these contests seemed positive, they were actually rooted in the pseudoscientific ideology of eugenics, which claimed that humans could improve their bloodlines by restricting who was allowed to reproduce. This troubling trend spread across the Pacific Northwest, with Washington becoming the second state to pass eugenics laws in 1909.

Why it matters

The baby contests reflected a growing national obsession with eugenics and the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, which sought to promote white supremacy and restrict the rights of marginalized groups. This dark history undermines the seemingly innocent nature of the baby contests and reveals how pseudoscience and bigotry can infiltrate even the most benign-seeming community events.

The details

During the early 20th century, county and state fairs in the Pacific Northwest held baby contests where infants were judged on physical measurements, mental and physical fitness, and physical appearance. In 1912, the Clark County Fair in Washington held the first of several such contests. Doctors, nurses, and fair officials would rate the toddlers on a point scale, with up to 10 points for physical measurements, 20 points for mental and physical fitness, and 70 points for physical appearance.

  • In 1912, the Clark County Fair held the first of several baby contests.
  • In 1909, Washington became the second of 33 states to pass eugenics laws.
  • Oregon passed a eugenics law in 1913, repealed it, and then passed a more stringent version in 1917.

The players

Clark County Fair

The county fair in Clark County, Washington that hosted several baby contests in the early 20th century.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist hate group that re-emerged in the early 20th century and sought to promote racist ideologies like eugenics.

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The takeaway

This history reveals how even seemingly innocuous community events can be undermined by the spread of dangerous pseudoscience and bigoted ideologies. The baby contests, which were intended to celebrate healthy children, were in fact rooted in the troubling eugenics movement and the rising influence of the Ku Klux Klan in the Pacific Northwest. This dark legacy serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of scrutinizing the motivations and assumptions behind seemingly benign traditions.