Where is the site of the Baker Institute in Muscatine, IA?

Question

I'm doing genealogical research and it looks like my great grandfather was a patient there back in the late 1930's. I can't find a lot of information about it besides the originator being Norman Baker who also had a radio station and owned the Crescent Hotel. I am really curious if the building itself still exists or if it has been torn down? Where was the location either way?

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Norman Baker Institute in Muscatine, Ia., ran Radio Station KTNT, site of which is in the Mark Twain Overlook.

Norman Baker was a famous "cancer doctor" of the 30's.  His radio station was officially opened by Pres. Herbert Hoover, who pressed a key in the White House.

National Public Radio "On the Media" featured Norman Baker, among others, a month or tw back.

some books, etc about Baker:

Junod, Suzasnne W. "Quacks and Crusaders" ,Journal of History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. v. 60, #1. June 1005, pp. 116-118.

Fowler, Gene and Bill Crawford. "Border Radio," U of Texas Press

"Doctors, Dynamiters and G-Men."

Answer 2

Have you tried looking for a phone book from that time?

Or even putting this question over in the travel section.  Also, there may be a local historical society that could help you.

Just out of curiosity I looked Norman up in the census,

Name: Norman Baker

Home in 1930: Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa

Age: 46

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1884  

Birthplace: Iowa  

Relation to Head of House: Head  

Race: White

Household Members: Name Age

Norman Baker 46  

Henry M Houy 28  

Rodney Amiss 18  

  

Answer 3

Baker Institute at 405 East Front Street

http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/cdm4/brow...

Photo Link: http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/cdm4/item...

Norman Baker founded his hospital in October of 1929 and closed it in February of 1932. Baker announced over K-TNT that, on May 12, 1930, "doctors were invited to attend a public demonstration that cancer was being cured by the Baker treatments at the Baker Hospital. He announcd that, during the demonstration, the top of a man's skull would be removed--a skull affected with cancer; and that this would be accomplised without the use of anesthetics, without the loss of a drop of blood, and without pain. Thirty-two thousand people attended...They covered the hillside, which was a hundred and sixty five feet high; thousands of cars from places as distant as Kansas City had to be parked in a space surrounding the radio station a mile long..." The man whose skull was lifted off was Mandus Johnson from Galesburg, Illinois. He was a witness at Baker's court case against the American Medical Association in February, 1932. This information was taken from the book "Doctors, Dynamiters and Gunmen" by Alvin Winston and can be found at the Musser Public Library. The address of 405 East Front Street was verified in the 1931 Muscatine city directory.  

rdering Information Please contact Musser Public Library at: [e-mail]  

From: http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Musc...

Muscatine was home to Norman Baker, a flamboyant entrepreneur, one-time Vaudevillian, radio pioneer and clinic owner who claimed "cancer is curable." Born in Muscatine in 1882, Baker was the son of a German immigrant and inventor. He went on to travel in Vaudeville with his psychic assistant, Madame Pearl Tangley (portrayed by two different women). He married the second Madame Pearl, Theresa Pinder, and in 1914 returned to Muscatine, where he and his wife's father perfected the air-powered calliope, called the Tangley Caliaphone. In 1925, he founded KTNT radio (later known by the catch phrase, "Know the Naked Truth"). On the station, Baker presented local talent, Tangley Calliaphone concerts, and the "first radio wedding." Baker testified at hearings presided over by Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, born in nearby West Branch, Iowa, as the government innaugurated the Federal Radio Commission (later the Federal Communications Commission). Among other proposals, Baker wanted all network radio stations to broadcast on the same frequency. He went on to found the Baker Institute, where, with help of noted cancer quack Harry Hoxsey, he claimed to have cured cancer. He held a number of outdoor rallies to promote his cure. Due to investigations by the American Medical Association and the Federal Radio Commission, he was forced out of Muscatine begining in 1931. He moved his radio station to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where he could blast the U.S. with 100,000 watts, and his clinic to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In 1940, he was convicted of mail fraud and spent four years in jail. He died in Florida in 1958.

From: http://uppermississippivalleyphotoarchiv... (This has a photo too)

Baker, Norman, 1882-1958; Baker Institute (Muscatine, Iowa); Grand Theatre (Muscatine, Iowa); Men; Clothing and dress; Automobiles; Trucks; Buildings; Architectural decorations & ornaments; Advertisements; Signs (Notices); Muscatine (Iowa); Glass negatives A photograph of the exterior of the Grand Theater at 401- 403 East 2nd Street taken for the courtcase of Iowa vs. Norman Baker. A sign above the Radio Shop reads "The New Home of The Hoxsey Cancer Cl

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=DdHi3db...