Born in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, Himes attended the public schools, Gettysburg College, and Pennsylvania State College. He was employed in the steel industry and later engaged as banker.

Himes was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1923). He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1922 for reelection to the Sixty-eighth Congress. He then moved to Frederick, MD in 1925 and took possession of the mansion known as Prospect Hall (Frederick, Maryland) where he lived with his family until 1958, entertaining and hosting dignitaries and US Presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt en route to Shangri-La, later dubbed Camp David.

Himes was the founder, president, and chairman of the board of directors of Group Hospitalization, Inc., Washington, D.C. He engaged in various business interests in Washington, New York City, and elsewhere.

He died in Washington, D.C., on September 9, 1960, and was interred in Fort Lincoln Cemetery.

• United States Congress. "Joseph H. Himes (id: H000626)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

•   Media related to Joseph H. Himes at Wikimedia Commons

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress