A & R Loggie Company was unofficially created by brothers Andrew and Robert Loggie in the late 1870s. Andrew was born on 14 July 1848, and Robert was born in 1853, to Alexander Loggie and Georgina Grey Jardine. They became entrepreneurs by marketing new fishing techniques and getting involved in the shipping business. A & R Loggie Company was incorporated in 1881 in Black Brook, NB, with Andrew serving as president and Robert as vice-president. Their younger brother Francis (Frank) Peabody Loggie became a partner and secretary-treasurer after finishing business college.

A & R Loggie Company began as a small enterprise and quickly expanded. The Loggies were fish packers, exporters, and general merchants. By 1890 A & R Loggie Company was among the largest packers and shippers of fish in Atlantic Canada. They conducted business all over northeastern New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Maine and Vermont. Their main exports were various kinds of fish, meat products, fruits, and vegetables. Wild blueberries made up their largest export. A & R Loggie Company owned a large number of freezers, ice houses, mills, ships, canneries, and general stores to accommodate its growing business. The company’s headquarters was in Black Brook (renamed Loggieville in 1895 in their honour), but expanded its operation to include ice houses and freezers in Nova Scotia and Quebec, and canneries in Quebec, Vermont and Maine. The branch established at Mulgrave, NS, became the largest fish handling section of the company.

At the start of their operation, the Loggie brothers were shipping 2000 tons of fish and frozen salmon annually to Europe. They were awarded medals and diplomas for their canned goods at fairs and exhibitions in Toronto (1886), Quebec (1894), and Montreal (1895). In the early 1910s the A & R Loggie Company reorganized and became the A & R Loggie Company Limited, with capital of $1,000,000. The operation continued to grow despite multiple fires destroying their buildings and assets. By the time of the last brother’s death (Andrew, 23 July 1928; Frank, 15 September 1939; and Robert, 17 January 1940) the Loggies had amassed a fortune of $2,000,000.

After 1940 Homer J. Loggie took over the company as general manager. On 4 August 1944, fire destroyed the two mills at Loggieville, a large wharf, warehouses, box shook sheds, and piles of lumber. Damage was estimated to be $250,000 and marked the demise of A & R Loggie Company in Loggieville. Homer J. Loggie announced on 21 September 1945, that Ashley A. Colter and Roland G. Laughlin, both of Fredericton, had purchased the entire A & R Loggie Company Ltd; the rumoured price of sale was $750,000. They sold various branches of the company. The remainder was eventually taken over by Jack B. Estey. The general store in Loggieville was converted into apartments, and the fish processing plant and freezer were eventually sold to the W.S. Loggie Company Ltd. of Chatham, also exporters and general merchandisers. In 1953, the Company became the first Canadian firm to prepare pre-cooked fish (fish sticks) for the domestic market. A & R Loggie Company was later acquired in 1959 by Eagle Fisheries, a subsidiary of National Sea Products Ltd.

Sources: Fraser, James A. Loggieville: Child of Miramichi. (Fredericton, 1973): 33 – 46; Fraser, James A. and Carlyle W.W. Stymiest. A History of Loggieville. (Chatham: Miramichi Press Ltd, 1964): 68 – 78; Hamilton, W.D. Dictionary of Miramichi Biography (Saint John: W.D. Hamilton, 1997) “Loggie, Andrew”: 215 – 216.