Henry J. Lutcher

Who was Henry J. Lutcher?

Henry Jacob Lutcher was a sawmiller and business partner of the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. His business ventures would help establish Orange, Texas as the timber-processing capital of the South in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Henry J. Lutcher was born on November 4, 1836, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 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 secure business judgment was the key to his many economic successes. The Lutcher-Robinson marriage produced two daughters, Miriam, who became Mrs. William Henry Stark, and Carrie Launa, who married Dr. Edgar William Brown.

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 in 1877 and expanded their business onto the bank of the Sabine River.