Page 21 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

In 1925, as business improved, the brothers began construction of a new storage warehouse at a cost of $100,000. This four-story brick warehouse
at 2126 Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore was the first of many to be designed and operated by
the Rukert family, and it has stood the test of time. Nearly 100 years old, the building is still in operation as an appliance store and warehouse. In 1927, Cap Rukert’s daughter Dorothy Rukert, who had just graduated from Western High School, went to work for the two brothers as a typist and file clerk. In doing so, Dorothy became the first member of the next generation of Rukerts to work for the company, making it a multi-generational family business.
One day in 1925, maritime circles were buzzing with the news that French shippers were planning to resume sending potash—a potassium fertilizer mined from underground deposits—to the United States after a long interruption due to World War I. Cap described this as “sweet music to my ears.” He knew that potash had been stored at the Block Street Wharf property before the war, so he approached the Chesapeake Bank, which owned the complex, and arranged a 10-year lease. Then he boarded a train for New York City and convinced French shipping interests that he had an available facility that could handle the vessel that was already on its way to Baltimore.
This first big break and long-term contract proved so successful that it was followed by a similar agreement with the German potash industry. In 1927, Cap added a new division to the young but expanding business, the Atlas Pier & Terminal Company. Shortly after, Cap hired Mabel G. Nichols to assist him. Over the next five years, Rukert would bring 130,000 tons of French and German potash through the Port of Baltimore. Cap’s son Norman later recalled seeing a German
PART I THE RUKERT STORY
LEFT: In 1925, the Rukert brothers began construction on this storage warehouse at 2126 Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore.
BELOW:
Dorothy Rukert in 1929, at age 20
13