Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man who was the
tallest person in
recorded history
Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world his ...
for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He was born and raised in
Alton, Illinois
Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is a p ...
, a small city near
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
.
Wadlow's height was
while his weight reached at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood were due to
hypertrophy
Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. It is distinguished from hyperplasia, in which the cells remain approximately the same size but increase in number.Updated by Linda J. ...
of his
pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a chickpea and weighing, on average, in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The ...
, which results in an abnormally high level of
human growth hormone (HGH). Even by the time of his death, there was no indication that his growth had ended.
Early life
![Robert Wadlow 1928](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Robert_Wadlow_1928.jpg)
Wadlow was born in
Alton, Illinois
Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is a p ...
, on February 22, 1918, to Harold Franklin and Addie May (Johnson) Wadlow, and was the oldest of five children. He was taller than his father by age 8, and in elementary school a special desk was made for him. By the time of his graduation from
Alton High School
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
*Alton (surname)
Places Australia
* Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
* Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zealan ...
in 1936, he was .
He enrolled in
Shurtleff College
Shurtleff College was a Baptist liberal arts school in Alton, Illinois until 1957.
History
Founded in 1827 by Reverend John Mason Peck (a Baptist missionary) as Rock Spring Seminary in St. Clair County, Illinois, and relocated to Alton, Illino ...
with the intention of studying law.
Adulthood and death
![Wadlow shoe compared](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Wadlow_shoe_compared.jpg)
Wadlow required leg
braces when walking and had
little feeling in his legs and feet. He never used a
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
.
Wadlow became a
celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
after his 1936 U.S. tour with the
Ringling Brothers Circus
Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows is a circus founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry. The Ringling brothers were sons of a Ge ...
, appearing at
Madison Square Garden and the
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (lat ...
in the center ring (never in the
sideshow
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction.
Types
There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:
*The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten ...
).
[Joe Nickell (2005). Secrets of the Sideshows. ]University Press of Kentucky
The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...
. , p. 89 During his appearances, he dressed in his everyday clothes and refused the circus's request that he wear a
top hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...
and
tails.
In 1938, he began a promotional tour with the
International Shoe Company
Furniture Brands International, Inc., was a Clayton, Missouri-based home furnishings company. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Lanevent ...
, which provided him shoes free of charge, again only in his everyday street clothes. Wadlow saw himself as working in advertising, not exhibiting as a
freak
A freak is a person who is physically deformed or transformed due to an extraordinary medical condition or body modification. This definition was first attested with this meaning in the 1880s as a shorter form of the phrase " freak of nature ...
.
He possessed great physical strength until the last few days of his life.
Wadlow belonged to the
Order of DeMolay
DeMolay International is an international fraternal organization for young men ages 12 to 21. It was founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1919 and named for Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. DeMolay was incorpora ...
, the Masonic-sponsored organization for young men, and was later a
Freemason. By November 1939, Wadlow was a Master Mason under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. and A.M.
One year before his death, Wadlow passed
John Rogan
John William "Bud" Rogan February 12 – September 11, 1905; some sources indicate 1867, 1868 and 1871 as his birth year) is recorded as the second-tallest person ever at , behind only Robert Wadlow.
Biography
John Rogan was born in Hende ...
as the tallest person ever. On June 27, 1940 (18 days before his death), he was measured by doctors at .
On July 4, 1940, during a professional appearance at the
Manistee National Forest
The Manistee National Forest is a national forest located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a total area of . It was established in 1938, and combined with the Huron National Forest in 1945 for administrative purposes, creating the Hur ...
Festival, a faulty brace irritated his ankle, leading to
infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...
. He was treated with a
blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
and surgery, but his condition worsened due to an
autoimmune disorder
An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly ...
; he died in his sleep on July 15.
His coffin measured long by wide by deep, weighed over , and was carried by twelve pallbearers and eight assistants.
He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in
Upper Alton,
Madison County, Illinois
Madison County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a part of the Metro East in southern Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 264,776, making it the eighth-most populous county in Illinois and the most po ...
.
A life-size statue of Wadlow was erected opposite the
Alton Museum of History and Art
The Alton Museum of History and Art, sometimes known as the Robert Wadlow Museum, in Alton, Illinois was founded in 1971 as a not for profit organization. It is located in Loomis Hall, named for Rev. Hubbel Loomis, on the grounds of the former Rock ...
in 1986.
Height chart
See also
*
Acromegaly
*
List of tallest people
This is a list of the tallest people, verified by the Guinness World Records or other reliable sources.
According to the Guinness World Records, the tallest human in recorded history was Robert Wadlow of the United States (1918–1940), wh ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Footage of Robert WadlowAlton Museum of History and Art article*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadlow, Robert
1918 births
1940 deaths
American circus performers
American people of English descent
Infectious disease deaths in Michigan
People from Alton, Illinois
People with gigantism
Burials in Illinois
Shurtleff College alumni
World record holders
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