The Luger Furniture Company
Lugerville, Wisconsin
within the virgin forests of Wisconsin on the Flambeau River. After a spur rail line was
laid to service the site, the Lugers constructed
what was then the first sawmill in the area. This first mill was constructed solely to cut logs
into lumber which was used to construct an even larger commercial mill on the banks of the
Flambeau River. The larger mill was operational by 1905. With milling operations running at
full capacity, the Lugers constructed eight frame company houses to house their mill workers
and families, and the Lugerville settlement became official. Three other homes were privately
constructed in 1906.
The Lugers shipped some of the lumber sawn at the mill to their factories in North St. Paul, the
Luger Furniture Company and the North St. Paul Table Company, and several other manufacturing
concerns. By 1909, with most of the sought after Pine trees cut, the Lugers sold their
interest in Lugerville to the John R. Davis Lumber Company, who operated the mill until 1914,
giving way to the Kneeland and West Lumber Company. Another 14 or 15 homes were added at this time as
the mill operated very successfully harvesting the hardwoods that remained in the area. From
1914 through 1919, when the mill was at its peak production, the Lugerville population had swelled
to 450 residents. During the time of the First World War, the mill company owned more than 50 homes.
In 1920 the Town of Flambeau was incorporated, taking with it the Lugerville settlement. The
mill operated 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.
While we know the Lugers made periodic trips and visits to the sawmill on the Flambeau, there are no records to suggest any of the Lugers had ever taken up residence in the little village bearing their name carved out of the lush Wisconsin forest on the Flambeau River. The town of Flambeau is eleven miles northwest of the city of Phillips, Wisconsin, the county seat of Price County.
* * *
 Town of Flambeau, 1904 - 1954", written by HelenMary S. Greene in 1955.) | Photo of Engine 1, or sometimes labeled 101. There were two engines that hauled wood and materials in and out of Lugerville as well as passengers on the weekend. |
