Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project: Interview with Max "Buzz" Ruttger Jr.

Titles: Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project: Interview with Max "Buzz" Ruttger Jr. (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Max "Buzz" Ruttger Jr. was born in 1921 at Bay Lake. He was the son of Max and Rosie Ruttger and grandson of Joe and Josie Ruttger, founders of Bay Lake Lodge. Buzz's father began Pine Beach Resort near Gull Lake in 1931. Buzz took over operations there in 1947 and sold the resort in 1969 to the Maddens. Buzz also owned Ruttger's By The Sea in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. At one time, each of the four sons of Bay Lake Lodge founders Joe and Josie Ruttger operated one or more independent resorts in Minnesota and Florida. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Birthplace, parents, summers from age ten on at Gull Lake, what it was like to be the child of a resort owner and live at a brand new resort. Founding of Pine Beach Resort, how the property was found and acquired, description of resort and amenities, golf courses, Jack Madden's involvement, number and size of cabins, length of season, staff, meals, fireplaces by local stone masons, children’s program, beach, boats, watercraft, Bay Lake Store. Additions and improvements - sitting rooms, to main lodge, more cabins added, showers added to bathrooms. Take over from father in 1947. Length of season and changeover day. Guests - where they were from and how long they stayed. When stays became shorter, rates, comparisons between Bay Lake Lodge and Pine Beach, effects of Depression on business, American Plan, gift shop. Advertising, where, when, how, color brochures versus black and white, how reservations were handled. Entertainment, selling alcoholic beverages, rainy days. Staff, housing, preferences. Max Sr.'s children's jobs, duties divided between Buzz and wife, Carol, Florida property - Ruttger's By The Sea resort hotel, beginning, season, how worked around kids' school schedule, the Lauderdale Ruttger, design to maximize view, hurricane and aftereffects, why sold Florida businesses, sale of Pine Beach to Madden's, popularity of meals at Pine Beach, memories of his parents, Joe and Josie Ruttger, and Alec, Max and Don Ruttger, family involvement in Chamber of Commerce, Resort Association, and tourist associations, Alec and 10,000 Lakes, recollections of beginning of Shady Point and Birchmont.

Dates

• 08/19/1997 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Ruttger, Max Jr.
• interviewer: Ruttger, Theresa

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 79
• Accession Number: AV2000.128.4

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project' <OH 79>

Quantity: 3 hours sound cassette 63 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 180 minutes length

Subjects

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