STOUT, Henry L.

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=philedpro&id=I03954

STOUT, Henry Lane. (Huntington County, NJ, Oct. 23, 1814-Dubuque, IA, July 18, 1900). Lumberman. Stout amassed one of Dubuque's largest personal fortunes between 1853 and 1900. He came to Dubuque in 1836 at the age of twenty-two and began a small store with money gained from an investment in MINING. By 1852 he had become such a fine salesman for the KNAPP-TAINTER LUMBER COMPANY that he was offered the opportunity to purchase a one-quarter interest in the company in 1853. (1) By 1854 the name of the company had been changed to the KNAPP, STOUT AND COMPANY.

Stout was a firm believer in expanding the company. Between 1866 and 1869, the company developed three new mills in Wisconsin and expanded into shipping. Its first steamboat was purchased in 1869. By 1881 the company owned twelve to move timber downstream to mills. (2) From its founding in 1846 until 1878, Knapp-Stout was operated as a partnership. In 1878 it was incorporated as the Knapp-Stout Lumber Company. In 1886 the firm's headquarters moved to Menominee where employment which had started at 700 workers in 1866 reached 2,000 by 1898. In 1878 when Knapp-Stout was incorporated, the company was capitalized with $2 million. It was valued at $4 million four years later and at $11 million in 1896–the company's 50th anniversary. At that time, Knapp-Stout operated major lumberyards in Dubuque, Cedar Falls, Fort Madison, and St. Louis. (3)

Stout's success in the lumber business led him to diversify his investments. His interest in transportation systems led him to serve on the board of directors for the DUBUQUE AND SIOUX CITY RAILROAD (1867 to 1869), Dakota-Dubuque Railroad (1881), and the Iowa Pacific Railway Company (1876). Stout also became involved in the DUNLEITH AND DUBUQUE BRIDGE Company. Between 1868 and 1881, he served as the company's treasurer, vice-president and member of the board of directors. He became president of the Dunleith and Dubuque Ferry Company in 1872 and maintained the office until 1893. (4)

Stout served as MAYOR in 1860-1861. During his term of office, the petition for a grain market was considered by the council which agreed with the petitioners and established the market in the First ward. In August the city council passed an ordinance providing that 10 per cent of the proceeds of all sales of property not assessed for city purposes made by auctioneers within the limits of the corporation should be paid into the city treasury. In November, 1860 a well ten feet in diameter was dug on Tenth street between Jackson and Washington for the use of the fire department. (5)

Banking was another of Stout's interests. He served on the board of directors for the People's Savings Bank of Dubuque in 1867 and from 1871 to 1887 was vice-president of the COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BANK of Dubuque.

Stout became vice-president of the FARLEY AND LOETSCHER MANUFACTURING COMPANY when it was incorporated in 1881 and remained in the office until 1891. (6)

In his later years, Stout moved into one of his most unique fields of business. Realizing that a profit could be made breeding horses for the popular sport of harness racing, Stout with his son, Frank, became owner and proprietor of the HIGHLAND STOCK FARM. In 1886 his son paid $22,000 for the stallion NUTWOOD. In 1892 Stout and his son opened NUTWOOD PARK.

Stout's house on Iowa Street.

In the early 1900s, Stout sold his Dubuque assets and moved to Chicago. He continued, however, to benefit the city of Dubuque. He donated land worth $20,000 to the city and Andrew CARNEGIE gave $60,000 to establish the CARNEGIE-STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY. (7) He gave generously to FINLEY HOSPITAL (THE), HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS, and donated his home on Iowa Street where he lived from 1857 to 1893 to the YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Y.M.C.A.) (8) From 1893 until his death, he lived with his daughter, Fannie STOUT, at her home at 1145 Locust Street.

Stout's son James Huff STOUT became an important figure in Wisconsin politics,lumbering, and education. (9)

Source:

1. Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren. The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008, Online: http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=366

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-15-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml

6. Carol Loetscher, Interview, April 13, 2014

7. "Dubuque Sought Business Methods From Beginning," Telegraph Herald, March 27, 1921, p. 14. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bi5eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SmANAAAAIBAJ&pg=6644,4092622&dq=james+fanning+dubuque&hl=en

8. Hudson.

9.Dictionary of Wisconsin History, http://www.wisconsinhistory.org