Henry Jacob Lutcher (November 4, 1836 – October 2, 1912) was a sawmiller and business partner of the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. His business ventures would help establish

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

, as the timber-processing capital of the South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Biography

Henry J. Lutcher was born on November 4, 1836, in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popula ...

, the son of Lewis and Barbara Lutcher, who were German immigrants. In 1858, he married his hometown sweetheart, Frances Ann Robinson. According to Lutcher, her sound business judgment was the key to his many economic successes. The Lutcher-Robinson marriage produced two daughters, Miriam, who became Mrs.

William Henry Stark William Henry Stark (March 19, 1851 – October 8, 1936) was an industrial leader whose contributions helped the city of Orange, Texas develop financially. Stark was the president of the Lutcher Moore Cypress Lumber Company of Lutcher, Louisiana ...

, and Carrie Launa, who married Dr.

Edgar William Brown Edgar William Brown, Sr. (1859–1917) was a physician who turned from the medical practice to become one of the most successful businessmen in the southern United States. His business contributions would help fuel the industrial development of the ...

Indian wars and pioneers of Texas (1890) (14762028754)

In his hometown in 1862, he began his career in the lumber industry with a joint venture with John Waltman. Two years later, Lutcher purchased Waltman's interest in the business, and the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company was established. Realizing the profit potential of lumber sales and cattle-buying, the two partners moved to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1877 and expanded their business onto the bank of the Sabine River. The city of Orange was chosen by the partners, primarily due to the proximity to the nearby tracts of land with enormous pine trees, and the ability to use the river to transport the lumber to the markets. Lutcher purchased more than 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of land in the southwest

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

parishes of Calcasieu and Beauregard. To transport the timber, he built approximately 100 miles (160 km) of tram road known as the Gulf, Sabine and Red River Railroad. By 1900, this operation employed more than 500 men as loggers in the nearby forests. During the 1880s, Lutcher purchased a fifty square-mile (130 km²) tract of virgin cypress swamp near the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, and in 1889, he built a sawmill in St. James Parish at a town that was named after him.

Lutcher, Louisiana Lutcher is a town in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. It is part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area . The population was 3,559 at the 2010 U.S. census, and 3,127 at the 2020 population esti ...

, is still a prosperous community, on the east bank of the River between

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Lutcher died in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

on October 2, 1912. His economic contributions, including that of his two sons-in-law W.H. Stark and E.W. Brown, helped establish

, as an industrial center on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutcher, Henry J. 1836 births 1912 deaths People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania American people of German descent People from Orange, Texas Businesspeople in timber People from Lutcher, Louisiana