This paper deals with the photoelastic stress investigation of shear stresses over the crosssections near the support of beams subjected to lateral force. In elementary theory, the shearing stress distributions of beams are independent of beam thickness and are wholly dependent on the shear forces. The shearing stress distributions, however, and the deformation obtained by the use of the elementary theory at the beam's boundary usually become incompatible with the actual boundary conditions. To remove this discrepancy, the effect of stress patterns near the support of beams must be considered. The results of the photoelastic experimental analysis are presented in terms of the two parameters, y/b and l/b. Comparison of the photoelastic experimental results show close agreement with those obtained from Filon's theory.