Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Robert Burns Ogilvie
OGILVIE, ROBERT BURNS (1851–1923), inducted by 1920
The notion of a portrait gallery honoring livestock legends was inspired by Robert Burns Ogilvie’s own private art collection, hanging at his Blairgowrie Farm in Dane County, Wisconsin. Ogilvie secured the services of James R. Stuart, to paint the first portraits in the collection in 1903. Born in Canada, to Scottish-immigrant parents, Robert Ogilvie settled in Wisconsin while still a teenager. He began working for a dry goods store and, within a few short years, owned the business. The teenaged Ogilvie also imported his first shipment of Clydesdales from Canada in 1867, and then later purchased stock from Scotland. These importations helped usher in a new era of breeding in America, and Ogilvie became successful in the show ring as an exhibitor and a judge. He was an advisor and supporter in the early days of the Wisconsin College of Agriculture. In 1900, he moved to Chicago to serve as secretary of the American Clydesdale Association. Ogilvie helped organize the first International Live Stock Exposition and establish the student judging contests at the show. He was elected the first superintendent of the International Horse Department and was a show director until his death in 1923.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 152