John Joseph Hogan

After his ordination, Hogan served as a missionary to enslaved people in Potosi and Old Mines, Missouri in 1852 and 1853. He then became a pastor at Saint John Apostle and Evangelist Parish, then founded Saint Michael's Parish, both in St. Louis. In 1857, Hogan started a series of missions in outside St. Louis, ministering mainly to transient Irish railroad workers and Catholic settlers. He ministered primarily in Chillicothe, Macon City, Brookfield, Mexico, and Cameron, Missouri.

In 1859, Hogan founded a settlement of Irish immigrants in southern Missouri, but it was wiped out during the American Civil War; this area is now called the Irish Wilderness. The northern Missouri missions suffered greatly during the war due to attacks of bushwackers. The public school system collapsed during the war, and Hogan set up a school for two years.

After the war, Hogan was arrested for failing to take the Ironclad oath, a requirement of the Radical Missouri constitution of 1865; this provision was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.[3]

Hogan was appointed by Pope Pius IX as bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Saint Joseph on March 3, 1868. He was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Peter Kenrick on September 13, 1868.[2]

Hogan was appointed by Pope Leo XIII as bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Kansas City on September 10, 1880, while remaining apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Saint Joseph. Hogan resigned from administration of Saint Joseph on June 19, 1893.[2]

Hogan died in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 21, 1913.[2] He is buried in the center of Priest’s Circle at Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery.[4]Bishop Hogan High School (now Hogan Preparatory Academy) in Kansas City, Missouri,[5] and Bishop Hogan Memorial School in Chillicothe, Missouri, were named after Hogan.[6]