The involvement of the Himmelberger family in the lumber trade dates back to 1867, when Isaac Himmelberger began lumber and sawmill operations in Logansport, Indiana. A branch of the business, called I. Himmelberger and Company, was begun in 1879 or 1880 in the town of Bluffington, in Stoddard County, Missouri, with Isaac’s son, John H. Himmelberger, in charge of operations. A second Missouri mill was acquired in 1890 in Morehouse, in New Madrid County, Missouri. In 1895 the Himmelberger family with their sawmills joined with the Luce family of Ohio (who owned several hundred thousand acres of timberland in New Madrid County) to form the Himmelberger-Luce Land and Lumber Company The company continued operations until 1902, when W. H. Harrison acquired the greater part of the Luce interests. At that time, the company became known as the Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Company. The Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Company, and its president, John H. Himmelberger, was a major force in the formation of the Little River Drainage District. The drainage of the southeast Missouri "swamplands" enabled Himmelberger-Harrison to become one of the largest lumbering operations in the Midwest. (Text from the original finding aid for the collection from May, 1986.)