Menomonie Builds a Diversified Economy, 1890-1930

Abstract

This thesis examines the economic growth and diversification of the city of Menomonie during and after the decline of the lumber industry. Beginning in the 1830s with the origins of the lumber industry, the city of Menomonie had been developed by the Knapp, Stout & Company, which grew to be the largest lumber company in the world by the late nineteenth century. As the lumber industry in Wisconsin declined at the beginning of the twentieth century, Menomonie and other lumber communities were forced to expand their economic footprint. Executives of the Knapp, Stout & Company chose to invest in new businesses and industries in the community. The most prominent of the lumber executives was James Huff Stout, who established the Stout Manual Training School, which would evolve into the Stout Institute and later the University of Wisconsin-Stout.