Main Conent

Incubator building, Buffalo, New York, 1901

infant incubators building black white photograph disability history america

Invented in the 1880s, incubators were such a novelty that the devices, along with live infants, were displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the 1901 Buffalo Exposition. From 1903 to 1943, Coney Island hosted an incubator show. Neonatal units became standard in hospitals in the 1940s.