The Place:
The Bing Crosby House is now part of Gonzaga University and is also known as the Crosby Alumni House, Bing being an alumnus of Gonzaga. Open as the
Bing Crosby Museum, it houses the largest collection of Bing Crosby memorabilia anywhere. Free to enter, the house is open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 AM to 4:30 PM.
The Person:
A Washington boy by birth,
Bing was born in Tacoma, Washington on May 3, 1903. When he was three his family moved to Spokane, seven years later moving into this house. The family lived in the house until 1936, when it was sold. A star of radio, movies and television, Bing came to be one of the best known entertainers of his time, with nearly 300 hit singles to his credit. Bing died in 1977. See a short biography below.
The Crosby family moved to Spokane in 1906 when Bing was three years old. They lived in a rental home for seven years, just a few blocks away from this house which they built in 1913.
The Crosby home is located at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house in now part of the Gonzaga University Campus, and is known as the Crosby Alumni House.
Harry Lillis (Bing) Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903. Harry was the fourth of seven children in a family that included four boys and two girls. Bing's father was Harry Lowe Crosby and his mother was Catherine Harrigan.
In 1910, when Harry was seven, one of his friends began calling him "Bingo" from a local newspaper comic strip. The nickname was eventually shortened to Bing, and from that time on, he was called Bing by everyone but his mother.
In 1912, Bing was playing baseball for Webster Grade School, and he made his theatrical debut at North Central High School.
From the Spokane Historical