The Story

James R. "Jim" Hogg was a Poplar Bluff businessman whose interests ranged from meat to livery to whiskey. A county history records that he established a meat market on Broadway about 1884 — an 1884 promotional book describes Wilson & Hogg, a meat market on the west side of Fourth Street near Maple, with Geo. M. Wilson and James Hogg as members — and that he later operated a distillery west of town making "Jim Hogg's Corn Whiskey." He also served as sheriff of Butler County: on February 6, 1903, a county history records, he hanged a convicted murderer in the courthouse yard as sheriff James R. Hogg.

In March 1906 Hogg bought J. J. Frank's livery operation on Vine Street, taking horses, carriages and building for a reported $18,000. He kept on experienced men such as Drew Hallock, who had worked for Frank about twelve years, and within weeks the stable was being fitted with modern appliances, including an electric currying and clipping machine. In September 1906 Hogg began raising the east room of the building to two stories with contractor J. W. Linton, adding a steel and plate-glass front.

W. A. Malugen joined the business, and by May 1907 a newspaper account of the city fire department placed its Vine Street quarters adjoining Hogg & Malugen's livery stable. The 1906 city directory lists "Hogg & Malugen, 412-400 Vine." In April 1908 Hogg sold his half interest in the livery to Malugen — but he kept the building itself, the distinction between a business and the real estate beneath it that runs through this property's whole history. The 1910 city directory places Hogg at 315 South Fourth Street with the Hogg Packing Company.