Lugerville History

The text below is courtesy of the Lugerville Project:

In 1903, an enterprising young man, Robert Luger, acting as a scout of sorts for the Luger Furniture Company, set off for northern Wisconsin in search of tracts of forested lands which could be harvested to satisfy the growing needs of the family’s successful furniture company. He, along with some other men in his party, traveled along the North Fork of the Flambeau River and bore witness to great expanses of hardwoods, pines and hemlock. Luger liked what he saw and sent word back to his father Frank and uncles John and Louis. In short order, forty-acres were acquired by the Lugers and by 1904 a site had been cleared along the river for a sawmill. This first mill was constructed in 1904 solely to cut logs into lumber which was then used to construct an even larger commercial steam-powered mill on the banks of the Flambeau River. The larger mill was operational by 1905.

Historic aerial view of downtown Lugerville, WI

From 1914 through 1919, when the West Lumber Company mill was at its peak production, the Lugerville population had swelled to 450 residents with the mill company owning more than 50 homes. The mill continued operating until 1933, the year the last log was sawn at Lugerville. By 1936, the mill and all its many buildings had been dismantled and the rail lines removed.

To read more about Lugerville’s history, please visit: http://www.lugervilleproject.com/history.html