Villages of Crawford County, Missouri - HOFFLIN The exact date of Hofflin's origin is not known but shortly after the construction of the Frisco Railroad in 1859 Walter L. Hofflin had purchased a great deal of land around the vicinity. This land was largely covered with fine timber. Walter Hofflin, being an industrious person set out to openup the lands. He employed many men to work in the enterprise. He built twenty-five or thirty log cabins on the estate, then opened up a grocery store, a blacksmith shop, and succeeded in acquiring a box car type railroad station and freight house calling it Hofflin. In 1903 he was appointed postmaster. Joe Martin was one of the early blacksmiths and remained until 1905 when he sold his shop. In 1920 Charley Parson was the last blacksmith at Hofflin and he closed the shop because of the natural decline in the blacksmith business in the country. After a period of great activity by the Hofflins the farm and business was sold to Moses Cauber who became the second postmaster, the merchant, and a farmer until 1920 when he sold his holdings to Edward McWilliams. The Kaluber family moved to St. Louis and Moses Klauber died in 1970 at the age of one hundred. The large Hofflin farm at this time had been dividedamong several different owners, some portions were sold under mortgage foreclosures. John Watkins purchased a portion of the farm from the Peoples Bank. Chief Young of the St. Louis Fire Department had obtained a portion and built a fine two story frame house. This attractive home was located a short distance from the Hofflin Store. From 1920 until 1923 Ed. and Bessie McWilliams were the owners of the business and had the post office until 1923 when they sold to Mr. and Mrs. Roy Libhart. Mrs. Libhart was appointed postmistress. The Libhart family was active in many enterprises: mining, farming, service station, livestock, and merchandising. In later years the store was operated by the older son, Clark. Mrs. Roy Libhart was postmistress for seventeen years until the business was sold to William Lea who purchased the business in 1940 and his daughter, Mrs. Mabel Lea Brown, was appointed postmistress. She served at the post until March 31, 1943, when the office was permanently closed. The old store building still stands but is no longer used as a store. ------ CRAWFORD COUNTY AND CUBA MISSOURI James Ira Breuer, 1972 p. 80-82 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe L. Miller ====================================================================