{"id":54038,"date":"2026-08-06T16:47:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=54038"},"modified":"2026-08-06T16:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:47:25","slug":"the-ruebel-family-papers-at-arb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2026\/08\/the-ruebel-family-papers-at-arb\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ruebel family papers at ARB\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Orange roadblock signs and detour routes can hinder anyone\u2019s 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\u2019s roads with their family-run construction business from 1892-1986. The Archives and Rare Books Library has a newly published finding aid<\/a> outlining the 88 years and three generations of Cincinnati road construction of the John Ruebel & Brother Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Newspaper
Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em>, July 25, 1957 from the Ruebel family papers, GA-26-01, Archives and Rare Books Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Collection overview<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ruebel Family papers document multiple generations of the Ruebel Family of Cincinnati, Ohio,\u00a0from 1896-2020.\u00a0The\u00a0majority of\u00a0the 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.\u00a0
\u00a0
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.\u00a0
\u00a0
A significant portion of the collection includes photographs and scrapbooks featuring topics such as\u00a0the early road building days of\u00a0John Ruebel’s company; family homes; streets;\u00a0the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati;\u00a0early Ohio towns; vacations; family events; Helen Werner Ruebel’s family; Sherman August’s young adulthood;\u00a0as well as\u00a0George’s childhood, education and football games at Yale, and World War II training.\u00a0
\u00a0
Newspaper articles, certificates, diplomas, and a 1915 German Bible can also be found within the collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tents
A young Sherman August sits on the street curb as his father’s construction company lingers around their makeshift campsite established alongside their current project, circa 1910. From the Ruebel family papers, GA-26-01, Archives and Rare Books Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Ruebel family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0
\u00a0
Christian Ruebel (1829-1896) was the oldest son of Peter and Barbara and immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio,\u00a0in the 1840s. He worked as a baker and married Maria Maringer (1839-1912) around\u00a01850.\u00a0During the Civil War he was drafted and partially blinded.\u00a0When he returned to Cincinnati, he purchased\u00a046 acres\u00a0of land at Race and Remlin Road.\u00a0Christian and Maria had ten children, two which passed away in infancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian later sold the land to his oldest son and\u00a0established\u00a0the 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.\u00a0Their sixth and seventh children,\u00a0John (1871-1933) and Philip (1874-1945),\u00a0established\u00a0the road construction company John Ruebel & Brother Company in 1892. The company started with\u00a0horse-drawn\u00a0wagons before switching to\u00a0steam-powered\u00a0machines. The company was renamed The John Ruebel Construction Company in 1912 with Philip as Treasurer. Cincinnati roads built by the company included but\u00a0were\u00a0not limited to Delta Avenue, Overlook Avenue, and First Avenue (later Iliff). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Ruebels at a Fourth of July gathering near First Avenue Price Hill, July 4, 1906. From the Ruebel family papers, GA-26-01, Archives and Rare Books Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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,\u00a0which he renamed S.A. Ruebel and Company. Under his\u00a0leadership,\u00a0the\u00a0company built\u00a0Westwood-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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
John and Margaret Ruebel in their Buick with Freda Kampf and Margaret Neusgable, 1910. From the Ruebel family papers, GA-26-01, Archives and Rare Books Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0He paused his studies to enlist in the Army Air Force during World War II.\u00a0George 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orange roadblock signs and detour routes can hinder anyone\u2019s 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\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[2512,2358,53,1745,2934,3045,36],"class_list":["post-54038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-arb","tag-archives-and-rare-books","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-construction","tag-german-immigrants","tag-roads","tag-uc-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54043,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54038\/revisions\/54043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}