Page 15 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

PART I THE RUKERT STORY
building. Though Norman loved to recall his days
as a reporter, his career change and move to the waterfront would prove to be monumental—not only for him, but for the Port of Baltimore.
When World War I started, Norman was 30 years old and a manager at Terminal Warehouse Company. One day his employer sent him to Washington, D.C. to urge the Army to grant Terminal Warehouse special permits needed
to build onto Shryock’s Wharf in Fells Point. Although Norman did not succeed in his mission, the Army decided that he was just the man they needed to help them operate their wartime port facilities. Before he knew it, W.G. Norman Rukert was commissioned an Army Captain and assigned to the port city of Bordeaux, France.
However, while Norman was undergoing brief- ings, a new Colonel was sent to the Baltimore area to
head all activities there. While looking around, this gentleman, one Colonel Miller, decided that what he really needed was someone who knew the local waterfront. When he was told that such a person was just then undergoing training at Camp Holabird, and was soon to depart for France, Colonel Miller selected Norman to help him run the Colgate Storage Warehouses, right in Baltimore harbor.
TOP: A view of Bond Street Wharf, courtesy of Terminal Warehouse Company
ABOVE: Terminal Warehouse Company advertisement
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