John Rugee

John Rugee
John Rugee
Sheriff of Milwaukee County
	In office; January 4, 1881 – January 1, 1883
Preceded by	Peter Van Vechten
Succeeded by	John Bentley
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly; from the Milwaukee 5th district
	In office; January 7, 1861 – January 6, 1862
Preceded by	Edward G. Hayden
Succeeded by	John M. Stowell
Personal details
Born	January 3, 1827; Free City of Lübeck, German Confederation
Died	March 7, 1894 (aged 67); Redlands, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Party	Republican
Spouse	Malvina C. Palmer (m. 1855⁠–⁠1894)
Children	Annie C. (Ball); (b. 1856; died 1910); John Christopher Rugee II; (b. 1859; died 1911); Charles J. Rugee; (b. 1862; died 1864); Frederick Palmer Rugee; (b. 1872; died 1921);
Occupation	Carpenter, architect

John Christopher Rugee (January 3, 1827 – March 7, 1894) was a German American immigrant, carpenter, architect, and Republican politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the Walker's Point neighborhood of Milwaukee during the 1861 term. He later served as sheriff of Milwaukee County. As an architect, he and his partner, Stoddard Martin, were the builders of the Newhall House hotel, which was infamously destroyed in a deadly fire in 1883.

Biography

John Rugee was born on January 3, 1827, in Lübeck, in what is now northern Germany. As a child, he emigrated with his family to the United States, settling initially in New York. In 1851, he moved west to the new state of Wisconsin, and settled in Milwaukee. He married Malvina C. Palmer. They had four children. Rugee died of cancer on March 7, 1894, in Redlands, California.^[1] He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[2]^[3]

Rugee was a member of the Assembly in 1861. He was also a Presidential Elector for the 1884 United States Presidential Election. In his professional life, he designed a number of churches, grain elevators, and bridges.^[1]

Some of Rugee's buildings include:

1 2 "John Rugee". Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
↑ Forest Home Cemetery History and Burials
↑ "Death Calls Mr. Rugee". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 8, 1894. p. 3. Retrieved August 18, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Jasper Humphrey and Captain Henry W. Thompson House". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2020.