Sen. James Huff Stout

    JAMES HUFF STOUT, Lumberman and Capitalist. State Senator Twenty-ninth District 1894. Menomonee. [p.135] Library of Congress. Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan , Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910. [database on-line] Washington: Library of Congress, 1999. Notable Men of Wisconsin. Milwaukee, WI: Williams Pub. Co., 1902

   JAMES HUFF STOUT. STOUT, James Huff, lumberman of Menomonie , Dunn county, is the son of Henry L. Stout of Dubuque, Iowa, who has long been one of the prominent business men of that city, and known as a public-spirited and generous citizen. During the war he, with Senator Allison, was appointed to organize the Iowa troops, and has been mayor of Dubuque. He is a man of great benevolence. Among his gifts for charitable purposes and for the promotion of social and educational improvement may be mentioned his own fine homestead in Dubuque to the Young Men's Christian association, a s a home for its organization, and $25,000 to the Findlay hospital of Dubuque.

   James H. Stout, the subject of this sketch, was born in Dubuque, Iowa, September 25th, 1848. He received his education in the public schools of Dubuque and at the Chicago University.

   For a number of years prior to his removal to Menomonie, Wisconsin, in 1889, he was actively engaged in the lumber business at Dubuque and St. Louis, as a member of the great lumber firm of Knapp, Stout & Co., whose founders began business at Menomonie in 1846, and incorporated as the Knapp, St out & Co. company in 1878. He retains his connection with this company, and is a member of its board of directors, bu t takes no active part in the details of its management.

   In order that he might put some of his ideas to a practical test, he built and equipped at Menomonie, in 1893, a small two-story manual training school, and conducted it in connection with the public schools. The experiment was carefully watched and the results noted, and so well satisfied was he with the success attained that he determined to enlarge its scope. He therefore, in 1894, built and equipped at h is own expense the Stout Manual Training School, a large three-story building, locating it on the Central school grounds, and connecting it by passageways with the High School building and gave it generous support and increasing appreciation as the work grew and demonstrated its right to public favor by its successful results. Unfortunately, the building, together with the high school adjoining, was destroyed by fire in February, 1897. The school had acquired an almost world wide reputation, and educators in all parts of th e country were watching its course with deep interest, as i t was in several respects the pioneer institution of its kind. However, the interruption in the work will be only temporary, as Senator Stout will at once rebuild and equip the institution, enlarged and improved, and the city will continue to maintain it as a part of its public school system . He has also built and equipped three commodious kindergar ten schools, which are carried on as a part of the same system.

   He instituted the system of traveling libraries, designed t o furnish villages and farming communities with the best i n the line of reading that otherwise is accessible only t o cities of considerable size. He first bought about five hundred books, carefully selected, which were divided into sixteen libraries, each in a [p.100] neat, strong case, and sent them out to various portions of Dunn county, where local associations had been formed to receive and care for t hem. The scheme proved a success from the outset, and so gr eat has the demand been for them that he now has thirty-seven libraries, or sections, in circulation, and each library has been increased to forty volumes. The libraries are changed from station to station as they are read, and as each one remains in a station about three months, it will be s een that it will take about nine years before each station has had the full set, even without further additions to t he list of books. The example set by Senator Stout has been followed by others, and the state now boasts of several free traveling libraries that are a power for good in the communities in which they circulate.

   In politics Mr. Stout is a Republican, and, while he is no t offensive in the promulgation of his political principle s and the promotion of his party interests, he has done eff ective work for his chosen party. He was elected senator fr om the Twenty-ninth district, composed of the counties of B arron, Buffalo, Dunn and Pepin, in the fall of 1894, receiv ing 7,298 votes against 1,405 for his opponent.

   Mr. Stout is a member of the Unitarian society of Menomonie , and is one of the trustees of the society.

   page 98-100 Library of Congress. Pioneering the Upper Midwe st: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820 -1910. [database on-line] Washington: Library of Congress , 1999. Aiken, Andrew J. Men of Progress, Wisconsin. Milwau kee, WI: Evening Wisconsin Co., 1897.