ALTON - Today marks the 105th birthday of Alton's Gentle Giant Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man. Wadlow grew to 8 feet 11.1 inches tall until he died from a foot infection on July 15, 1940. Robert was born on February 22, 1918. Robert was born on this day in 1918, to Harold Franklin and Addie May Wadlow, and was the oldest of five children. At age one, he was already 3-foot-5 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds. By the age of 5, he was 5-foot-4 and wore clothes intended for an average 17-year-old. By the time he graduated from Alton High, he was 8-foot-4 inches tall in 1936. Alton's Ruth Mitchell often heard experiences from her mother - Helen Edwards Mitchell about the famed Alton giant. Helen was in Robert's Alton High graduating class in January 1936. The two are both in the photo above, Robert on the far left, and Helen on the far right. Helen died in 2005, Ruth said. "I heard about Robert all my life," Ruth, who now is one of the Alton Museum of History & Art Board members
Continue Reading