Podcast – Eli Stout Print Shop

Eli Stout Print Shop
Today we will visit the Eli Stout Print Shop, the home of Indiana’s first newspaper.
From the Book
Southwest Indiana Day Trips

Transcript:

Eli Stout Print Shop
Greetings, today we will visit the Eli Stout Print Shop, the home of Indiana’s first newspaper.
Before getting started, I would encourage you to subscribe to the Mossy Feet Books You Tube channel for more great content. If you like my videos, please hit the “Like,” button. The more likes I get the more You Tube will show it to other people, allowing me to grow the channel. I also entreat you to visit my website, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. There you will find sample chapters, podcasts, a slew of content and links to where you can buy my books. While visiting the web site you can subscribe to it and receive email notifications of when I publish a new book or other content, like this video and podcast. This episode is based on my book, Southwest Indiana Road Trips.

Located near the Red House, the last building on the tour is the Eli Stout Print Shop. Mr. Stout served as the printer for the Indiana Territory. He received $500 per year to print the laws passed by the Territorial Assembly. The building originally stood on Second Street before the State moved it to this location. The shop has a printing press similar to the one Stout used. A fire in the print shop destroyed his press. The shop also has a replica newspaper of one he printed, type cases and other tools used by printers of that era.
When Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison arrived in Vincennes to govern the huge new territory on January 10, 1801, he had several problems to solve. One of these problems was that there was no printer in the territory. Harrison needed a printer to print the proceedings of the Territorial government and dessiminate the news out to the residents in the vast region. He first used a Kentucky printer, William Bradford. In 1804, Bradford’s apprentice Elihu Stout seized his opportunity and moved to Vincennes, becoming the first printer to serve the Indiana Territory.
Elihu Stout (April 16, 1782 – June 22, 1860)
The son of Jediah Stout and Mary Stout, Elihu was a native of Hopewell, New Jersey. The Stout family moved to Lexington Kentucky in 1792. At age fourteen Stout apprenticed himself to William Bradford, publisher of the Kentucky Gazette. Stout completed his apprenticeship at age twenty-one. Hearing of the need for a printer from Harrison’s dealings with Bradford, Stout visited Vincennes in 1803. The population at the time was around 1500 people in Vincennes and the surrounding area. Most of these people were fur traders, French/Amerindian half breeds, and trappers. Many of these people could not read English. It did not seem a profitable place for a young printer to establish himself. Harrison, however, needed a printer. He needed one to print documents for the Territory and he also wanted a newspaper, which he felt would help attract new settlers into the area. He offered Stout $500.00 per year as the Territory’s official printer if he would set up a newspaper.
The Print Shop
Stout, with a loan from his father, purchased a wooden printing press in Frankfort, Kentucky. He arranged for shipment by boat down the Ohio and up the Wabash River, a three month trip. After his June 21 arrival he established a print shop on Second Street in Vincennes and began printing his newspaper, the first copy of the Indiana Gazette appearing on July 04, 1804. A subscription for the paper was $2.50 per year. In lieu of cash, a scarce commodity on the frontier, he would barter with customers, accepting agricultural products as payment. In April 1806 a fire destroyed his print shop. Elihu purchased another press in Kentucky and launched his second newspaper, the Western Sun, on July 11, 1807.

The episode is based upon my book, South Central Indiana Road Trips, available on the web site, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The book is the first book in the 9 volume Road Trip Indiana Series. The books include all the historical markers, as of 2022, in Indiana with the text and back story. The books also include a nearly complete listing of virtually every tourism destination in the state. The destinations include parks, museums, drive in theaters, bowling alleys, wineries and much, much more. I encourage you to visit the web site and subscribe to it.
You can find my books locally at the Walnut Street Variety Shop in Batesville, Indiana.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and thank you for listening.