Where did Sam Walton grow up and live?

📍Kingfisher, Oklahoma, USA

1918 – 1940

“I was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma in 1918, the son of Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee Lawrence. Oklahoma in the 1920s was struggling — my father worked various jobs, we moved frequently, and money was always tight. I grew up in the Depression and the lesson it taught me was very simple: every cent matters. I worked from early childhood — milking the family cow and selling the milk to neighbours, delivering newspapers, waiting tables. I graduated from the University of Missouri in 1940 and immediately went to work in retail, training at J.C. Penney. The first Walmart opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. The Kingfisher childhood, the Depression values, the absolute conviction that a dollar saved was a dollar that could go toward the customer — these were the foundations of the largest private employer in the world.”

👍 LovedThe Depression values that made frugality not a strategy but a conviction — the bone-deep understanding that waste was wrong. The early work experience that gave me a feel for retail from the customer's perspective. The Oklahoma spirit of making do and finding a way.

👎 DislikedThe poverty and instability of the Depression years. The constant moving that made deep roots difficult. The sense of always being behind, always needing to catch up.

Map showing where Sam Walton lived — Kingfisher, Oklahoma, USA

🗺️ Approximate location today

Street view of Sam Walton's home at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, USA

📍 Street view today

Sources: Walton, S. with Huey, J. Sam Walton: Made in America (1992), Doubleday; Ortega, B. In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and Walmart (1998), Times Business; Trimble, V. Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man (1990)