The series premiered in 1910. Stopped in 1916.

This newspaper strip describes one family's life in a small New York apartment house called Sooptareen Arms. The Dingbat family lives somewhere in the building, and they have other tennants one floor up (hence the series' title) who are never seen. Many of the events are based on noises and things falling down from the ceiling. The Dingbats are endlessly trying to get even with the infernal - and elusive - upstairs family, but they never succeed.
Herriman found an effective way to end his series; in the last strip, destruction workers suddenly and unannounced broke through the Dingbat's ceiling informing them that the building was being knocked down and that they better move quickly! In the last panel there was just an empty lot left with a sign informing the public that a two story department store was to be erected.
Shortly after the premiere Herriman introduced his most famous series, Krazy Kat, as a small bonus strip under his main series. After a while they went their separate ways.

Herriman had grave difficulty deciding the title of the series. The first strips were made under the title The Dingbat Family, then he retitled it The Family Upstairs. For a longer period of time he was undecided, until he finally settled on the latter choice.