The depression in the '30s put a damper on travel and vacationing.  Suddenly no one had any money, and a vacation was the first luxury to by abandoned.  The hotel company weathered two years of practically no business and then went bankrupt in 1934.  The 1934, '35, and '36 seasons it operated poorly under receivership. In the fall of 1936 Joe's sons Max and Alex heard that the grand old resort in Bemidji, the Birchmont Beach Hotel, was to be auctioned off by the bank.  In September of 1936 they bid on the property and acquired it for $39,000.

In the spring of 1937 the new owners of the Birchmont, Alex and Max, had their own resorts to run so they sent Max's son Don up to Bemidji.  The job of restoring a run-down property, rebuilding a clientele, and getting the business back into the black fell on rather young shoulders.  Don, age 21, had just graduated from the University of Minnesota.  He brought several of his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers to Bemidji to help and The resort turned a $500. profit the first year. Don's Father and Uncle were so impressed that they sent a maintenance team up from their Brainerd resorts in the fall of 1937 to spruce up the place. Don soon bought the resort from his father and uncle.  In 1944 Don married a Bemidji girl, Lucille Forester.  They had two children, Randy and Sally.  Sally has since moved to Florida. Randy now operates the resort with his wife Tina and family. Randy is the first of the fourth generation of Ruttgers to continue in the family tradition of Minnesota's premier resort family.

Randy and Tina Ruttger 

The Birchmont has seen a lot of changes in the 60-plus years since Don Ruttger first moved to Bemidji.  The Ruttger's have tried to maintain the charm of the grand old summer resort on the north shore of Lake Bemidji while making the continual improvements that are necessary to keep up with the changing times.  One thing will never change though, the friendly hospitality of four generations of Ruttger family ownership.

Don Ruttger, founder, Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge

 c.1960

Ruttger's Main Lodge as it is today.

Don Ruttger with Guest Malcolm Forbes

Randy Ruttger with Malcolm Forbes and his Harley

Randy Ruttger with Governor Perpich, his daughter, and Lucille Ruttger

A nice catch.

Ten Years Later, our Second Governor's Opener, this time with Governor Carlson

Tina & Randy Ruttger with Governor Carlson

Governor Carlson admiring Miss Birchmont

Our 1949 Chris Craft

Ruttger Resorts Today

 http://www.ruttgersresorts.com/baylakelodge/

 and Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge in Bemidji. Two new resorts have been added, Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. 

http://sugarlakelodge.com

and Ruttger's Pine Mountain Camping Resort near Backus, Minnesota. 

http://ruttgerspinemountain.com

The Resorts are owned and operated independently by cousins (All great grandsons of Joseph Ruttger). Chris Ruttger at Bay Lake, Fred Bobich at Sugar Lake, William Ruttger at Pine Mountain, and Randy Ruttger at Birchmont.