Life — August 16, 1923 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The First Country Skyscraper" This satirical article by Don Herold mocks the Squogarts, a farm family near Columbus, Indiana, who built a 15-story structure on their property—likely the earliest tall building on farmland rather than in a city. The cartoon caricatures Mr. and Mrs. Fred Squoggart and their children with exaggerated features. The satire targets rural ambition and commercialism: the Squogarts operate a roadside stand selling food and souvenirs to motorists, with their skyscraper serving as their "stand." Herold humorously predicts highways will someday line up with farm-based skyscrapers, suggesting the absurdity of commercializing rural America and foreshadowing suburban sprawl—a prescient social commentary on development patterns that would define mid-20th-century America.