Stout's print shop

Western Sun office

Elihu Stout

Elihu Stout was historically significant to the city of Vincennes in the state of Indiana . In 1804 Governor Harrison brought Stout to Vincennes from Lexington , Kentucky where he was a journeyman printer.

Elihu Stout was a journeyman, printer, and an author. First, he was a journeyman printer for the Kentucky Gazette in Lexington . He started his print shop in Vincennes in 1804. Stout had to set his own type and make his own ink. He called his weekly newspaper, “Indiana Gazette”. Unfortunately, his shop caught on fire in 1806. Stout started the paper up again and renamed it the “Western Sun” on July 4, 1807 . Twenty-one year old Abraham Lincoln helped Stout print the March 6, 1830 edition. Unlike the papers now, they didn’t have a lot of pictures or headlines.

In Vincennes Stout sold his business to John R. Jones in November 1845. George E. Green bought the shop and revived the name “ Western Sun”. George Green died in 1870, and two men, named R. C. Kise and A. J. Thomas, bought the shop. In 1876 they sold the newspaper shop to R. E. Purcell. Purcell began making a weekly newspaper in October of that year called the “ Vincennes Sun.” Purcell announced the publishing partnership of Purcell and Sons on July 4, 1910. The real shop was torn down in 1914. Sadly, Elihu Stout died on October 26, 1903.