Orange roadblock signs and detour routes can hinder anyone’s daily commute. A single road can be repaired repeatedly over decades to make the perfect paved road. However, where does that begin? The Ruebel family of Cincinnati contributed significantly to Cincinnati’s roads with their family-run construction business from 1892-1986. The Archives and Rare Books Library has a newly published finding aid outlining the 88 years and three generations of Cincinnati road construction of the John Ruebel & Brother Company.
Collection overview
The Ruebel Family papers document multiple generations of the Ruebel Family of Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1896-2020. The majority of the collection consists of material chronicling the life of George Ruebel who was the grandson of John Ruebel, founder of John Ruebel & Brother Company. The company operated from 1892-1986 and was one of the first road construction companies in Cincinnati having established streets and roadways such as Delta Avenue, Overlook Avenue, First Avenue (later Iliff), Westwood-Northern Boulevard, parts of the Tri-County Parkway, Princeton Pike, and Route 25.
Ancestry and genealogical print outs are featured in the collection. The Ruebel’s trace their lineage back to Peter and Barbara Ruebel of Bavaria, Germany. Alongside their grown children they immigrated to the United States during the 1840s.
A significant portion of the collection includes photographs and scrapbooks featuring topics such as the early road building days of John Ruebel’s company; family homes; streets; the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati; early Ohio towns; vacations; family events; Helen Werner Ruebel’s family; Sherman August’s young adulthood; as well as George’s childhood, education and football games at Yale, and World War II training.
Newspaper articles, certificates, diplomas, and a 1915 German Bible can also be found within the collection.
The Ruebel family
The Ruebel family dates their lineage back to the 1700s with Peter and Barbara Ruebel in Germany. Due to the extensive genealogy within the collection, this biographical note will only highlight some of the Ruebel branches.
Christian Ruebel (1829-1896) was the oldest son of Peter and Barbara and immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1840s. He worked as a baker and married Maria Maringer (1839-1912) around 1850. During the Civil War he was drafted and partially blinded. When he returned to Cincinnati, he purchased 46 acres of land at Race and Remlin Road. Christian and Maria had ten children, two which passed away in infancy.
Christian later sold the land to his oldest son and established the Bridgetown Hotel with Maria on the corner of Race Road and Cleves Pike. Christian and Maria helped build the First German Protestant Evangelical Church of Bridgetown and were charter members. Their sixth and seventh children, John (1871-1933) and Philip (1874-1945), established the road construction company John Ruebel & Brother Company in 1892. The company started with horse-drawn wagons before switching to steam-powered machines. The company was renamed The John Ruebel Construction Company in 1912 with Philip as Treasurer. Cincinnati roads built by the company included but were not limited to Delta Avenue, Overlook Avenue, and First Avenue (later Iliff).
John married Margaretta Hockholzer (1873-1954) and they had three children. Sherman August (1902-1977) was the third child of John and Margaretta and worked at his father’s company as a driver and steam mechanic before owning the company in 1926, which he renamed S.A. Ruebel and Company. Under his leadership, the company built Westwood-Northern Boulevard, Middletown Airport, parts of the Tri-County Parkway, Princeton Pike, and Route 25. He married Helen Werner (1900-1991) and they had two children. Marian Ruebel Goosey (1924-2020) George Ruebel (1922-2005).
George attended Kirby Road School, Hughes High School, and later Yale University to study economics. Throughout high school and college, he was involved with athletics which included playing football for Yale University. He paused his studies to enlist in the Army Air Force during World War II. George served as a flight instructor for the military in Arizona. After the war, he finished his education and continued to work with his father’s company. He became President in 1964 until he sold the company in 1986. He married Violet Gray (1925-2018) in 1943 and they had three children.