To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Texas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Texas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 7/1/12 • Approved: 1/15/14 • Last Updated: 3/23/18 • R2041-G0-S3
Veteran Confederate States Army
Civil War Confederate
1834 - July 11, 1882
Born in Connecticut and died in San Antonio, Texas
Historical Marker reads:
Jack Harris was born in Connecticut in 1834 and ran away to sea at the age of 12. In 1856 he was a member of William Walker's Nicaragua Expedition where he was captured and put in front of a firing squad before being rescued by Walker. Harris escaped to Texas and in 1860 he joined the police force of San Antonio. He served with the Confederacy during the Civil War and returned to San Antonio and the police department.
In 1868 he and police captain Penaloza started a saloon on Market Street. In 1872 Harris opened the Jack Harris Bar and Billiard Room on Main Plaza at Soledad and Commerce Streets. The name was changed to Jack Harris Vaudeville Theatre and Saloon three years late.
Harris headed the Democratic Party in San Antonio and dictated who ran for office in city and county government for many years. He also reigned supreme over the "sporting community."
Harris was shot in the vaudeville theatre on July 11, 1882, by Ben Thompson, City Marshall of Austin, as a result of arguments over a gambling debt two years earlier. At Jack Harris' funeral on July 12, 1882, there were 47 carriages in the procession out east Commerce Street. He died a single man at the age of 48.
The notoriety of his theatre, which reached the front page of the "The New York Times," is believed to have popularized the term "Vaudeville" for variety theaters in the United States
Contributed on 7/1/12 by tomtodd
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 2041