One of only three remaining American producers of pencils, the recently rebranded and family-owned Musgrave is experiencing a renaissance at the beginning of the 21st century.

Because of its straight grain, light weight, ease of shaping, and ability to resist rot, Red Cedar was the preferred source of wood for the pencil industry, dating back to the 19th century.

A Western species “incense-cedar, which grows abundantly in California and Oregon forests, was an ideal substitute for Eastern Red Cedar as a pencil wood due to the ease of machining, sharpening, lacquering, and imprinting.” The wood traveled via train to Shelbyville, where workers would place it to be stacked and dried before being cut into pencil slats.

Musgrave, like other manufacturers, began to produce its pencils from ready-made slats shipped from the West Coast, a practice continued to this day.

In nearby St. Louis, he found a German machinist who could operate the intricate machinery, and he helped Musgrave to set up shop in Shelbyville.

[3] During WWII and the material rationing imposed on pencil manufacturers by the United States government, women kept the Musgrave factory running.

Generations of factory workers employed by Musgrave and other companies scented the air of Shelbyville with the smell of wood and paint.

This forced Musgrave to cut salaries across the board and to lay off some employees, while other companies in The Pencil City closed up or moved production overseas.

[7] Musgrave has operated largely unseen in recent decades, producing white-label pencils for advertising purposes and also for other brands.

[10] In the midst of a renaissance of analog[11] means of communication and renewed interest in handwriting[12] in education, the arts, and psychological development, pencils in general are increasingly preferred to digital alternatives for note taking and other exercises in learning.