Stephen P. Mann, prominently connected with the real estate and investment business in Muskogee, where he took up his abode on the 20th of July, 1902, has also been associated with many important public projects which have contributed in substantial measure to the growth, development and improvement of the city.
Mr. Mann was born in Hopkins County, Texas, September 15, 1861, his parents being John W. and Martha L. (Hubbard) Mann, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The father was a stock-man and farmer, devoting his life to those pursuits, whereby he provided for the support of his family.
Stephen P. Mann pursued his early education in a log school and much of his training was received in private schools. Starting out in the business world, he secured a clerkship in a dry goods store and was thus employed for seven years. Steadily he made advancement, gaining thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the business, and by carefully saving his earnings he was at length enabled to establish a general store of his own in Texas. Later he confined his attention to the conduct of a store in which he carried only men’s wear. In this business he continued for thirteen years. On the 20th of July, 1902, he came to Muskogee.
In the intervening years many lines of business have claimed his attention and profited by his cooperation and progressive spirit. For one year he was manager of the Spaulding Mercantile Company and later he turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he has since been engaged. He is thoroughly familiar with the real estate market, is a splendid valuator of property and has negotiated many important, realty transfers during the years in which he has handled the business in Muskogee. He was likewise a cotton buyer for ten years. His efforts have always been along the line of development and he has sold a large portion of the business property of Muskogee.
In 1903 Mr. Mann was elected to the city council at Muskogee which put in the initial system of water and sewer at Muskogee, he serving as chairman of the light and water commission that put in the first aseptic tank in the County, on which he saved the city one thousand dollars over the consulting engineer’s estimate on the contract price for the city. He has ever regarded a public office as a public trust and it is well known that no trust reposed in Stephen P. Mann has ever been betrayed in the slighest degree. When holding official position he has bent every energy to the faithful discharge of his duties and has labored most earnestly for the welfare and up building of the district which he represents. For eight years he served as a member of the city council at Sulphur Springs, Texas, without pay other than two dollars per month and it was during this period that the council succeeded in freeing the city from indebtedness. Mr. Mann was elected mayor of Sulphur Springs, Texas, in 1891 but resigned after a year and a half. During his period of service, however, he sold water bonds and established the waterworks, and with the maturity of the bonds it was found that the waterworks had been instituted at no expense to the city.
He was also city councilman of Muskogee in 1903 and 1904 and again he exercised his official prerogatives in support of many measures of direct benefit to the public. At the same time his business activities have been of a character which have contributed to the public good. At the present writing he is a director of the Guaranty Trust Company of Muskogee, also of the Industrial Loan & Investment Company and of the E. O. Clark Abstract Company.
On the 30th of July, 1891, Mr. Mann was united in marriage to Miss Floy Ashcraft of Sulphur Springs, Texas, and they have become parents of three children: Grace, now Mrs. Jewel Bixby of Muskogee; Jack, who was born July 4, 1903; and Elsie. Mr. Mann turns to fishing and hunting for recreation, greatly enjoying these phases of outdoor life. His life has been purposeful, his labors resultant and Muskogee numbers him among her representative citizens.