starspangledbanner

James H. Preston, also known as John H. Preston, (1860-1938), served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1890-1894. He was Mayor of Baltimore for two terms from 1911-1919. He was defeated when seeking a third term in 1919, and resumed the practice of law.

Preston graduated from the Law School of the University of Maryland in 1881 with an LL.B. degree. In 1894 he married Miss Helen Fiske Jackson (b.1874), the daughter of Wilbur Fiske Jackson (1849-1903), and niece of Governor Elihu E. Jackson (1837-1907). They had two sons and three daughters.

Mayor Preston was in the national news throughout 1914 as he was the president of the centennial commission directing impressive ceremonies as the people of the United States observed the 100th anniversary of the birth of the immortal anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." From July 8 to August 1, 1914, Commission President Mayor Preston toured dozens of major American cities by rail on a good will, centennial promotional tour.

President Wilson and former Presidents Taft and Roosevelt, vice presidents, former Governors of Maryland, the former Mayors of Baltimore along with the present Governors of the eighteen states in the union when Francis Scott Key wrote his national anthem, attended the ceremonies at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, September 6-13, 1914.

6,500 public school children formed a human flag on a special platform built for the occasion, followed by singing of the National Anthem accompanied by a 250 piece marching band. For the rest of their lives many of those children would self-describe themselves as "I was a red stripe" or "I was a white star" as they proudly told of their experience to others. The Official Programme for the National Star-Spangled Banner Centennial was 165 pages.   —Compiled: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

 
There is another photo of James Preston as a younger man in the Bain Collection of the LOC on Flickr:


 

wonderful excellent potrait

Thanks for the information and links! Here's another photograph of him, more fully identified, in our Harris & Ewing Collection: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.10639. We'll add information to the description when we next update.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key I added the sculpture to Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key_Monument

Richard Arthur Norton: Thanks for the information about Francis Scott Key. This image shows a monument to him located in Baltimore, Maryland. This article about its restoration and rededication in 1999 shows the same rowhouses in the background: www.heritagepreservation.org/NEWS/Key.htm