RUTTGER'S BAY LAKE LODGE:

Joseph Ruttger was born in Hanover, Germany on January 13, 1860. He arrived in the United States in October 1883 and homesteaded on an island on Bay Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1886.

Josephine Wasserzieher was born in Nauvoo, Illinois on October 27, 1860. She came to Bay Lake in 1889 to stay with her sister Louisa (Mrs. Henry Knieff). Joseph and Josephine were married on October 31, 1890. In 1894 they moved to the mainland, where they established a farm. The Ruttgers had five sons: Alexander John (Alec) (1892-), Maximillian Wilhelm (Max) (1894-), Edward Adolph (Ed) (1896-), William Joseph (Bill) (1899-), and a son who died in infancy.

The four surviving sons went into the resort business, each operating a resort in the Brainerd Lakes area: Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge (Deerwood, Minn.), operated by Alec and his family; Ruttger's Shady Point Lodge/Whitefish Ruttger (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), operated by Bill and his family; Ruttger's Pine Beach Lodge (Brainerd, Minn.), operated by Max and his family; and Sherwood Forest Lodge (Brainerd, Minn.), operated by Ed and his family. Max's son Don and his family operated Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge (Bemidji, Minn.). With the eventual retirement of various family members all the Brainerd-area resorts except Bay Lake Lodge and Birchmont were closed.

Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge, the flagship Ruttger resort property, was established on Bay Lake by Joseph and Josephine Ruttger in 1898. The first guests were fishermen who slept in the Ruttgers' barn. Families began arriving in 1901. Alexander John (Alec) Ruttger took over operation in 1920. The "Ruttger Cottage" was built in 1901, a nine-hole golf course was added in 1921, and a log dining hall and lounge were opened in 1922. Alexander John Ruttger, Jr. (Jack) and his wife Ann took over operation in 1955. Chris Ruttger became general manager in 1992, and the centennial of the property was celebrated in 1998. Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge was said to be the oldest resort in Minnesota still operated by its founding family.

Sherwood Forest Lodge was established by others prior to 1920. It was purchased in 1935 by Ed and Eva Ruttger from Mrs. Frances Williams of Minneapolis. Sherwood was situated on a peninsula between Big Gull Lake and Lake Margaret, and featured a log lodge and 20 modern cabins. The property was sold to the Kahler family of Rochester, Minnesota in 1946.

Ruttger's Shady Point Lodge (later known as The Whitefish Ruttger) was established by William (Bill) Ruttger and his wife Maude on the shore of White Fish Lake in 1936. The construction of cabins and other buildings began in April 1936, and in three months twelve cabins, a main lodge, and a dormitory were constructed and furnished. The first guests arrived in July of that year. Son Joe Ruttger and his wife Carol became operators of the resort upon the retirement of Bill and Maude, and in time they changed the name of the resort to The Whitefish Ruttger. The resort was closed in the fall of 1978, most of the cabins auctioned off and hauled away, and the land subdivided as Whitefish Ruttger Estates.

Pine Beach Ruttger was located 12 miles west of Brainerd on Gull Lake, and was apparently owned by Max Ruttger and his wife Rose. It was later operated by W. J. "Buzz" Ruttger.

The Birchmont Beach Hotel was founded in 1915. It became the fifth Ruttger resort when it was purchased by Alex and Max Ruttger in 1937 and was renamed Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge.

Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge was opened in the 1990s by the Ruttgers. It was located on Sugar Lake outside of Grand Rapids, Minnesota and featured conference and banquet facilities, "villas," suites, cottages, and a golf course. It was apparently founded in the 1930s by Art and Eleanor Otis. In 1998 Sugar Lake Lodge was owned by Fred Bobich, a member of the Alec Ruttger branch of the family.

The Ruttger sons leased Pirates Cove resort in the Florida Keys in the mid-1930s. In 1946 they bought beachfront property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and opened Ruttger's by the Sea. In 1958 they opened the Lauderdale Ruttger resort, and later the Ruttger Keys Motor Lodge.

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The collection consists primarily of photographs, disassembled scrapbooks, and publicity materials. There are no financial or operating records of the properties. There is also some genealogical material and other information about members of the Ruttger and Wasserzieher families; letters home from Edward Ruttger while serving abroad with the United States Army during World War I; and some World War II ration books.

Most of the material relates to Ruttger's Shady Point Lodge/Whitefish Ruttger. Of particular interest are four scrapbooks (three of which were disassembled by the cataloger) kept by Joe and Carol Ruttger that tell the story of Shady Point Lodge from its opening in the 1930s through its closure in 1978-1979 and redevelopment as a lakeshore subdivision. The scrapbooks contain photographs, picture postcards, brochures, rate schedules, issues of the resort's Ruttger Stump newsletter, newspaper clippings, and correspondence and miscellaneous documents. There are two copies of a poster announcing the October 1978 auction at which most of the buildings and furnishings were sold off as Joe and Carol left the resort business.

A large portion of the collection consists of photographs of family members and resort properties. There are five VHS videocassettes, including television news clips and a professionally produced video presentation about Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge made at the time of its centennial (1998).

Also of interest are two guest registers (1937-1945) from Ruttger's Sherwood Forest Lodge, and an unlabeled guest register (1945-1952) said to be from Shady Point Lodge.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Records of Ruttger Resorts. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,778; 16,133

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, September 2003; additions by Rich Arpi, March 2008.

Digitization of selected materials was supported by the Joseph and Josephine Ruttger Descendants Fund.

Catalog ID number: 990017381200104294

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Consult the catalog for the locations of other Ruttger materials, which are found in a variety of formats in various Minnesota Historical Society collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Business enterprises -- Brainerd Region (Minn.).

Convention facilities -- Minnesota.

Family-owned business enterprises -- Minnesota.

Fishing -- Florida.

Fishing -- Minnesota.

German Americans -- Minnesota.

Golf -- Minnesota.

Guest books.

Resorts -- Florida.

Resorts -- Minnesota.

Small business -- Minnesota.

Soldiers -- Correspondence.

Summer resorts -- Minnesota.

Tourism -- Florida.

Tourism -- Minnesota.

Vacations -- Minnesota.

World War, 1914-1918.

Places:

Bay Lake (Crow Wing County, Minn. : Lake).

Brainerd Region (Minn.).

Crow Wing County (Minn.).

Deerwood (Minn.).

Pequot Lakes (Minn.).

White Fish Lake (Crow Wing County, Minn. : Lake).

Persons:

Bates, Shirlee Ruttger.

Ruttger, Carol (Carol Ann).

Ruttger, Edward.

Ruttger, Eva, 1903-1994.

Ruttger, Joseph, 1860-1941.

Ruttger, Joseph, 1929-1984.

Ruttger, Josephine Wasserzieher, 1860-1935.

Ruttger family.

Wasserzieher family.

Organizations:

Lauderdale Ruttger (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).

Pine Beach Ruttger (Brainerd, Minn.).

Pirates Cove Fishing Camp (Pirates Cove, Fla.).

Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge (Bemidji, Minn.).

Ruttger's by the Sea (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).

Ruttger's Shady Point Lodge (Pequot Lakes, Minn.).

Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge (Grand Rapids, Minn.).

Sherwood Forest Lodge (Cass County, Minn.).

Whitefish Ruttger (Pequot Lakes, Minn.).

Types of Documents:

Autograph albums.

Diaries.

Photographs.

Postcards.

Ration books.

Scrapbooks.

Videocassettes.

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