Just months before The Beatles would captivate America and launch the British Invasion, a young George Harrison made a quiet visit to his sister’s home in Benton, Illinois in September 1963.
During that low-key trip, the future rock legend experienced small-town America in ways he’d never be able to again. Harrison went camping, played music with local bands, tried his first root beer served by roller-skating waitresses, browsed record shops, and purchased a guitar before returning to England.
Merely four months later, Harrison would appear alongside his bandmates on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” watched by 73 million Americans as The Beatles made their historic U.S. television debut and forever changed popular music and American culture.
The five-bedroom brick bungalow on McCann Street where Harrison and his brother Peter stayed during that visit is now listed for sale at $105,000 in the southern Illinois town of 6,700 residents, located 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.
Beatles enthusiasts have reason for concern about the property’s preservation. Back in 1995, the home at 113 McCann Street faced demolition until preservationists, including Harrison’s sister Louise Harrison Caldwell who had relocated in the late 1960s, intervened to rescue it.
Benton, previously known for conducting Illinois’ final public execution in 1928, was established around the area’s abundant coal deposits. Louise Caldwell had settled there when her mining engineer husband found work in what was then a booming industry.
The residence they selected was constructed in 1935, featuring a brick front and spacious front porch.
During the mid-1990s, a state agency acquired the property from a later owner with intentions to demolish it for parking space. Beatles expert and author Robert Bartel from Springfield notified media outlets and devoted fans about the demolition threat.
Local business people bought back the house from the state and established the Hard Day’s Nite Bed and Breakfast, displaying the sofa where Harrison had played guitar along with extensive Beatles collectibles, many contributed by Bartel.
The themed lodging closed its doors in 2010. Since then, Benton resident Grady Adams has managed it as standard rental apartments but now seeks to sell. Brian Calcaterra, who directs economic development for Benton, proposed creating city regulations to prevent future demolition, though Mayor Lee Messersmith indicated the city council hasn’t addressed this issue.
“Of course, if it doesn’t get demo’d, I would prefer that,” Adams said.
Questions remain about whether sufficient interest or motivation exists to restore the McCann Street property to its Beatles-themed status.
Author Jim Kirkpatrick from Creal Springs, who wrote “Before He Was Fab” about Harrison’s visit and has movie rights optioned for the book, reports having promising discussions with at least one potential buyer.
However, Robert Rea, a Benton business owner and historian who participated in the 1995 rescue effort, believes the enthusiasm has diminished.
“When we did this (in 1995), the world went crazy because they thought, ‘George is going to come, he’s going to save the house,’” Rea said. “And I’m just being honest with you, maybe I’m missing it or something, but that momentum is not here.”
Harrison’s Illinois journey likely represented his final experience with anonymity. He camped in Shawnee National Forest and performed with a well-known local band at a nearby VFW hall. The group’s bandleader brought him to a drive-in where car hops on roller skates served him his first taste of root beer.
At a record shop on Benton’s town square, Harrison purchased multiple vinyl albums, including James Ray’s R&B track “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You,” which Harrison would later cover for a number-one hit in 1987.
Harrison also acquired a Rickenbacker 425 guitar similar to bandmate John Lennon’s instrument. He used this guitar one month later during The Beatles’ recording of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The guitar eventually sold at auction in 2014 for $675,000.
During his stay, Harrison and Caldwell visited WFRX radio, where 17-year-old Marcia Schafer Raubach hosted a Saturday teen show. Harrison presented her with a copy of “She Loves You,” explaining it had just topped British charts.
Raubach conducted an on-air interview with Harrison, marking the first American radio interview with any Beatle, and played the record, which she still possesses. She noted the song sounded distinct from popular American jukebox music of the time, though it failed to impress her listeners.
Despite his longer hairstyle in an era of crew cuts, Raubach remembered Harrison, wearing a pressed white shirt, jeans and sandals, as “very clean cut, he was personable and mannerly and they call him the ‘quiet Beatle’ — well, he was.”
“If I had known what they were going to become, I would have handled that differently,” Raubach, now 79, said. “It’s still amazing that he even came here and that I met him. I think he really liked Southern Illinois.”
Harrison never made another trip to Benton, passing away in 2001 at age 58. Caldwell died in 2023 at 91.
