Jim Porter

James D. Porter, known as "Big Jim" Porter (December 15, 1811 – April 25, 1859) was an American tavern keeper and coach driver in the mid-nineteenth century, and internationally famous as the tallest man in the country. Porter stood 7 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 300 pounds, and feet that were 14 ½ inches long. Upon meeting him, Charles Dickens wrote in his 1842 travelogue American Notes and Pictures of Italy that Porter walked in a crowd as a lighthouse among lampposts.

Louisville area doctors gathered in 2006 to review Porter's medical profile. Their conclusion suggests that Porter had a hormone disorder called acromegaly, which affects about three out of every one million people. Acromegaly or gigantism results from a tumor (usually benign) pressing on the pituitary gland releasing an excessive amount of growth hormones.

Early life

Born James D. Porter on December 15, 1811

Small as a child, Porter began his career at age 14 as a jockey at the Elm Tree Garden horse track on Shippingport Island.

Fame

Capitalizing on his unusual size, traveled the East Coast performing a play based on Gulliver's Travels. According to his niece Lily Levi, "Not a chair was tall enough, not a bed was long enough, not a table was high enough." Like any celebrity, Porter had a love-hate relationship with the public attention. At times, he was uncomfortable with the attention, yet he often traveled around town performing small skits and appearing at local events. in 1836 near the Portland Canal in Louisville. The Big Gun Tavern was to be the grandest hotel in the South. was made for Porter and the rear doors had to be tied shut