Harry J. Hirshheimer was born in La Crosse in 1871. The son of prominent La Crosse businessman Albert Hirshheimer, Harry soon became involved in his father’s plow manufacturing business. He became vice-president when the La Crosse Plow Company was incorporated in 1893. After his father’s death in 1924, Harry became president of the company until it was sold to Allis-Chalmers in 1929.
Hirshheimer was well known as a local historian. The La Crosse County Historical Society, of which he was a member and an officer, published many of his papers on La Crosse history. He collaborated with Albert H. Sanford in writing
A History of La Crosse 1841-1900 , and also created a detailed card index of La Crosse newspapers that were published between 1852 and 1935. This index is now located at the Archives Room in the La Crosse Public Library.
Harry J. Hirshheimer married Azalia West in 1894. They had one daughter and three sons. Hirshheimer died in 1952.
