The best part of our business is the friends that we make.

A RUTTGER HERITAGE

Cousins Fred Bobich of Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge and Chris Ruttger of Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge operate as separate businesses and friendly competitors. That is how it has been since the early 1900s. At one time there were five Ruttger’s resorts in Minnesota, all operated independently by different family members. Two additional resorts, Ruttger’s Pine Mountain Camping Resort and Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge, continue to be operated by great grandsons of the founders. Although they are not part of this website, they also carry on the tradition.

Joseph Ruttger came to America from Neuleiningen, Germany in 1883. He traveled to New York and made his way to Minnesota in the spring of 1886. He joined a group of settlers who founded Rankin’s Colony on Bay Lake. The colonists transported a sawmill with them and used it to cut lumber and build their homes and other community buildings. Each colonist filed his own homestead claim; Joe Ruttger settled on an island off the north shore of Bay Lake.

In 1890, Joe met and married Josephine Wasserzieher. Due to the difficulties of island life, they sold their property and relocated on the north shore of Bay Lake. Their discovery of this summertime paradise resulted in the birth of the resort. As word spread of the great fishing on Bay Lake – and of a settler, Joe Ruttger, who had a boat for rent, more and more visitors arrived each year. In the early days guests stayed in their own tents and some slept in the hayloft of the barn. Eventually, Joe built a special lodging facility and a one-week stay cost $5.00 for bed, board and boat.

When Alexander, Joe and Josie’s first born son, returned from World War I and a brief stint in Montana, he decided to go into the resort business, with the goal of building a first class property. He borrowed $3,500 from an Aitkin Minnesota banker to make improvements. Alec and his wife Myrle devoted their lives to building the resort and the family tradition was carried on with their son Jack. During Jack’s tenure with his wife Ann, the northern Minnesota resort grew to its current size with two golf courses, condominiums and a conference center.

In 1992, Jack and Ann’s son, Chris, took over as the operator of Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge. Chris and his wife Joanne continue to run the operation.

At Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge, Fred and Gwynne Bobich also uphold the Ruttger’s reputation. Fred grew up spending summers at Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge with his grandparents, Alec and Myrle Ruttger. He started working there when he was 14 years old and eventually became the resort’s general manager. In 1975 he married Gwynne Kangas, a fellow Ruttger employee. Fred and Gwynne and their children moved to the new Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge in June 1993.

Although Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge and Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge are independently owned and operated, they share a history rich in quality, service and hospitality. That commitment continues today through fourth generation cousins Chris Ruttger and Fred Bobich.