How Incubators and Coney Island Advanced Neonatology

From 1904 to 1943, New York’s Coney Island amusement park showcased technological advances from around the world, including infant incubators occupied by live babies. A sign at the entrance read, “All the World Loves a Baby” where visitors paid 25 cents to see the tiny preemies.  

 

At the forefront of the attraction was Dr. Martin Couney, a man dedicated to saving the lives of premature infants, later known as “the incubator doctor”. His own daughter, Hildegarde, was born six weeks early weighing 3 pounds. (She later trained as a nurse and is pictured with her father to the right.) 

 

Dr. Couney called the Coney Island exhibit a “child hatchery”. The incubators provided a controlled environment that improved the chances for survival for vulnerable infants. 

 

It’s not surprising the exhibit caused considerable controversy, and multiple attempts were made to shut it down. Still, the attraction gained popularity among attendees as well as parents of preterm infants. Previously rejected by maternity units, babies at Coney Island were cared for 24 hours a day by a team of doctors and nurses at no charge. One survivor later said, “Without Martin Couney, I wouldn’t have had a life”

 

Ultimately, Dr. Couney has been credited with saving more than 6,500 babies and for paving the way for neonatology as we know it today.

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