Thomas K. Stout, who has been actively identified with merchandising interests in Bartlesville during the past sixteen years, has since 1919 been the proprietor of Stout’s Specialty Shop at No. 217 East Third street and in this connection enjoys an extensive and high-class patronage. He was born in Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky, on the 4th of January, 1875, his parents being J. K. and Sarah L. (McCallister) Stout, the latter also a native of Kentucky. J. K. Stout removed with his family to St. Clair County, Missouri, in 1885 and throughout the remainder of his active business career successfully devoted his attention to mercantile pursuits in Appleton City. Both he and his wife are deceased.
Thomas K. Stout was a lad of ten years when he accompanied his parents to Missouri and a young man of thirty when he came to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1905. Here he associated himself with L. Brin, proprietor of the Boston Store, a general dry goods and ready-to-wear establishment, forming a corporation known as the L. Brin Company, of which he became the vice president. In 1919 Mr. Stout disposed of his interest in the enterprise and opened Stout’s Specialty Shop, of which he has remained the sole proprietor, carrying a very fine line of ladies’ ready-to-wear apparel and drawing an exclusive patronage from the town and surrounding country. His trademark, SSS, has become widely. known and is recognized as a symbol of good merchandise and fair dealing. Six people are employed in his, establishment, which is conducted along most progressive and modern lines under the able direction of Mr. Stout.
It was in 1911 that Mr. Stout was united in marriage to Miss Elsie Lee Brown, a native of Butler, Bates county, Missouri. Fraternally Mr. Stout is identified with the Masons, the Elks and the Woodmen and he is likewise a member and president of the Kiwanis Club. He was sent as a delegate to the international convention of Kiwanis Clubs at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1921. His record both as a merchant and citizen is a most creditable one and he has gained high standing in the business and social circles of Bartlesville.