Page 79 - Rukert - 100th Anniversary

PART II BRINGING THE WORLD TO BALTIMORE
learning all aspects of the business before assuming management responsibilities.
In his first two years at Rukert Terminals, John often invited his girlfriend Fiona to the terminal where, from the top of the lighthouse, they could watch the setting sun and boats in the harbor. On the evening of August 29, 1986, John asked Fiona to look not at the water, but through his binoculars at a crane on the far end of the pier. There she saw a “will you marry me?” banner placed inside the driver’s cab of the crane. The couple was married exactly one year later.
In the mid-1980s, the company’s physical expansion continued at a brisk pace. The immediate success of the PECO crane at Pier 5 increased tonnage and revenue dramatically. These profits were quickly reinvested back into the company. Acquiring more land in Canton was the number one priority. On December 21, 1985, the Maryland Port Administration sold 14 acres of property directly across from its Pier 1 facility to Rukert Terminals. This large parcel was perfectly located adjacent to the main office and warehouse complex that had been built earlier in the decade.
With its footprint in Canton growing, Rukert Terminals sold Brown’s Wharf, its last remaining property in Fells Point, in 1986. Major Mitchell, who ran Brown’s Wharf after the retirement of George Smith, and his crew were transferred to Canton. Brown’s Wharf had been a hub of oper- ations for 40 years, and it had housed the Brown’s Wharf Maritime Museum for a decade. Like many other properties around the harbor, the 150-year-old warehouse complex would be renovated and used for new commercial space.
For the first time in nearly 60 years, the Rukert family business was no longer operating in Fells Point, but its history there would not be forgotten.
In the first decade of the 20th century, a young W.G. Norman Rukert had been sent to Fells Point by his father to clerk for the Pennsylvania Railroad. And it was where he would return, years later, now Cap, to make his mark not only on Fells Point, but on Baltimore maritime history. Generations of Cap’s descendants have and will continue to return to
Fells Point to pay homage and share memories. It is only fitting that to this day, the repurposed Brown’s Wharf buildings still bear the Rukert Terminals name in bold white letters, visible from the water and streets of Fells Point.
To further honor its roots in Fells Point, Rukert Terminals became a corporate sponsor of the promenade at the Broadway Pier Engraved Brick
BELOW: Yellow lines indicate the Canton property acquired from the MPA.
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