Charles Himrod was born to David and Abigail Himrod on December 24, 1841, in Waterford, Pennsylvania. During the first decade of his life, Charles and his parents relocated to Delaware, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, as reflected in the 1850 US Census. On August 26, 1861, at the age of 19, Charles enlisted to fight in the Civil War. He served in Company E of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment for three years, where he was eventually promoted to sergeant major on June 27, 1864. Following the war, Charles lived in Missouri from 1867 to 1869, where he worked scouting the land for iron ore. Charles’s father had been an iron master, and thus Charles followed in his father’s footsteps by eventually becoming an iron merchant.

While living in Missouri, Charles wrote many letters to his future wife, Alice F. Judson. Alice Judson was born to William Judson and Clarissa King in Waterford, Pennsylvania, on July 25, 1841. After Charles and Alice were married, they often moved for Charles’s work, living in various locations such as Irondale, Ohio; Youngstown, Ohio; Waterford, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. The Himrods did have two children, both of whom died in childhood.

After marrying Alice and moving to Irondale, Ohio, Charles worked with the Morgan Furnace Company. However, by the spring of 1880, he had purchased the Chicago and Erie Forsyth Safe Shops with partners John Stambaugh, Robert McCurdy, and William Tod. The name of the company was changed to the Forsyth Scale Company, and offices were opened in Erie, Pennsylvania and Chicago, Illinois. At the time of this purchase, Himrod was still living in Erie, Pennsylvania, with Alice and their daughter Gertrude. By 1882, he had officially moved to Chicago, where he listed himself as a pig iron merchant under the company name “Charles Himrod & Co.” While the Charles Himrod & Co. had an office in Detroit, the Himrods continued to live in Chicago. In 1887, Himrod was made president of the Calumet Iron and Steel Company; the following year, he was made president of the Milwaukee Furnace Company.

By 1910, according to the US Census, Charles and Alice were living in Waterford, Pennsylvania. His work at this time was listed as the manager of a water supply company. It is believed that Charles Himrod died in 1920. He was buried at the Waterford Cemetery in Waterford, Pennsylvania, where his wife was also buried when she died in 1924.