Harry James' Childhood Homesite

The Stephen F. Austin State University Heritage Center says Harry's father, Everette, played trumpet and led the band of the Mighty Haag Circus, and his mother, Maybelle, was an acrobat. At four he filled in for the circus's trap drummer. William James Jackson, an African American member of the band, taught him trumpet basics and said Harry soon was playing better than he was. By 1927 Harry was substituting for his father as band director. When the Depression ended the circus, the family stayed in Beaumont.

What the plaque says

Harry James' Childhood Homesite Henry Haag "Harry" James was an American musician who became famous as one of the most popular bandleaders during the "Big Band" or "Swing Band" era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in 1916 in Albany, Georgia. When Harry was eight his parents settled in Beaumont, where his father, Everette, was a music teacher. Everette set up a studio in their home located at 2095 Neches Street which is now Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway. Harry James joined Dick Dowling Junior High School Orchestra and at Beaumont High School he joined the Royal Purple Band. He began his professional career in 1934 when he toured with Joe Gill. In 1935 James joined Ben Pollack's Band where he made his recording debut with "Spreading Knowledge Around." In 1937, Benny Goodman heard James play and offered him a job with his orchestra. James started his own band in 1940 with Goodman's blessing and financial support. James recorded many popular songs including "You Made Me Love You" and "Flight of the Bumble Bee," and by 1942 he was one of the most popular musicians in the country. James was instrumental in jumpstarting the careers of famous entertainers, such as singer Frank Sinatra and drummer Buddy Rich. His film career began with Hollywood Hotel, but also included other films like Two Girls and a Sailor, Young Man With a Horn, The Benny Goodman Story, Anything Goes, and Springtime In The Rockies with his second wife, actress Betty Grable. Harry James has been called "one of the most essential trumpeters and bandleaders in the history of American music." His innovative playing style influenced trumpeters and changed the history of jazz. Harry James died in 1983 and is buried in Las Vegas, Nevada. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 1.7 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 2.7 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Village Creek State Park — 13 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 17 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.

More markers nearby

• Jean Baptiste Chaison — 0.4 mi
• Jefferson County Courthouse — 0.7 mi
• Port of Beaumont — 0.8 mi
• William G. "Bill" Hall — 0.8 mi