Richard M. Hoar was born in 1831 in St. Anstell, Cornwall, England and was one of nine children. He became a resident of Houghton, Michigan in 1859 and that year joined his brother John in partnership in a general merchandise business. The firm of John Hoar & Brother had two large stores on each side of the street in Houghton. One carried general merchandise, while the other stocked ready-made clothing. Richard also opened a branch store at Portage Entry which became one of the best equipped stores in the Keweenaw Peninsula and carried freight, mail and express mail. In 1862 Richard took a contract to built the western end of the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad, which later became the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway. With his brother he took a government contract in the 1860s to open a wagon road between Houghton and Baraga. Richard ran a stage coach line in the winter and in the summer ran the side-wheel passenger steamer, IVANHOE. Richard M. Hoar held several public offices, from Township Clerk to member of the Michigan State Legislature in 1873 as well as the School Board director and second president of the Village of Houghton. He was instrumental in incorporating the Mineral Range Railroad and was Vice-President of that corporation. He was chief engineer and organizer of the Houghton Fire Department, established about 1862. Fraternally, Mr. Hoar was a Mason, and had advanced to the thirty-second degree. Richard M. Hoar passed away in 1903, buried in the family mausoleum he had constructed in Portage Township's Forest Hill Cemetery, now a Michigan Historical Site.
From the description of Richard M. Hoar Correspondence, 1859-1910. (Michigan Technological University). WorldCat record id: 701560341
