The W. S. Loggie Company was begun in a very small way in 1873. Like so many other Miramichi companies, the business was centered around fishing, farming, and forestry. In time, the Loggie Company would own stores, fish plants, brickyards, sawmills, and factories where many other products were canned.
The Loggie family first came to the Miramichi in the 1780’s. Many of the Loggie family were in business on the Miramichi. But none of them did as well as William Stewart Loggie. Mr. Loggie went to school until he was fourteen. He then worked in the J. B. Snowball General Store. This is where he first learned about the business.
Loggie started his own footwear store in 1873. In the same year, he started a fish plant. He was only 22 years old. In 1878 he opened the Loggie Grocery Store on Water Street. This store would stay open until the late 1970’s. The building is one of the oldest ones on the river, dating back to 1838.
In his first few years, Loggie made most of his money from the fishing business. He would build his factories and give boats and materials to the fishermen. In return, they would give the fish they caught. To keep the fishing business growing, he had to open stores all along the river. At one time Loggie owned as many as 45 factories. These plants were found as far away as Dalhousie in northern New Brunswick. The Loggie Company continued to grow. By 1937, it was a million-dollar business.
But business interests were not enough for W. S. Loggie. He also entered politics. He served on the first Chatham Town Council in 1896. By 1900 he had become Mayor Loggie. In 1903, he was elected to the New Brunswick Legislature in Fredericton. He held his riding until 1904. He then won election to the Canadian government in Ottawa. He held the Northumberland County riding for 17 years in the House of Commons.
W. S. Loggie died in 1944 at the age of 93. The company was run for many years by his son, Kerr Loggie, who died in 1947. Another son, Leigh, came home in 1946 to run the company. By the time Leigh died in 1977, much of the Loggie Company had been sold. The Loggie home on Wellington Street was now empty. In time it was sold to the town of Chatham. It is now called the “W. S. Loggie Cultural Center.” W. S. Loggie is best remembered as greatly helping Miramichi business to grow for over eighty years. The Loggie name is closely tied to Chatham business even to this day.