One of the giants of post-World War II Chicago blues, Chester Arthur Burnett, known as “Howlin’ Wolf,” was born in White Station, just north of West Point, on June 10, 1910. Named after U.S. President Chester Arthur, he received the nickname “Wolf” from his grandfather and learned to play a one-string diddley bow and harmonica as a child, though his early life was difficult. After being cast out by his mother, he lived in White Station with his great uncle until he ran away from home at 13 and hitched a train to the Delta, where he reunited with his father on the Young and Morrow plantation near Ruleville and received his first guitar in 1928. Burnett began performing in the Delta in his early teens, later became a pioneer in electrifying the Delta blues, and came under the wing of Charley Patton, who taught him showmanship and songs Burnett later recorded, including “Pony Blues.” He developed a distinctive style marked by his naturally raspy voice and howling, a technique inspired by his attempts to imitate Jimmie Rodgers’s yodels, and as “Howlin’ Wolf” he performed with bluesmen including Johnny Shines, Floyd Jones, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Robert Johnson while returning each spring from his travels to plow his father’s farmland. After serving in the Army from 1941 to 1943, he farmed and then moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948, where he formed an electric blues band and hosted a radio show on KWEM. His music drew the attention of producer Sam Phillips, who first recorded him in 1951 for the RPM and Chess labels. In 1953 he moved to Chicago, where he continued recording for Chess and made classics such as “Spoonful,” “Killing Floor,” “Back Door Man,” “I Ain’t Superstitious,” and “Howlin’ For My Darling” with guitarist Hubert Sumlin. His music reached new audiences in the 1960s through covers by artists including Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the Doors, and his 1956 recording “Smokestack Lightnin’” became a hit on the pop charts in England in 1964. Even after moving north, he remained a strong presence on the Mississippi blues scene through frequent visits and performances in the area, including appearances at Ferdinand Sykes’s place on Cottrell Street in West Point, Roxy’s juke joint in White Station, and the Chicken Shack in Union Star, and he also returned to visit friends and hunt and fish. He died on January 10, 1976, in Hines, Illinois, and West Point later established a festival in his honor in 1996 and a museum in 2005.