Grounded in Generations, Rocks, and Resiliency: The Story of Mayville Limestone, Inc. - Part 2

The following is a multipart historical piece on Mayville Limestone Incorporated. The information was compiled using these sources: “From Mayville to Milwaukee: The Visual Culture of the Iron and Steel Industry in Southeastern Wisconsin” by John H. Kopmeier, Jr., “Wisconsin Iron” by James C. Percival, “Lime Industry in Wisconsin” by the Wisconsin Historical Society, “Mayville’s Oldest Industry Celebrates 125 Years in Business” by Mayville Limestone, Inc., The Dodge County Pionier, The Mayville News, Daniel Seurer, Mayville Limestone, Inc., and these books: “Fifty Years in Business: Golden Jubilee Souvenir of the Chas Ruedebusch Co. Mayville, Wis.” by Chas Ruedebusch, “When Iron was King in Dodge County, Wisconsin 1845-1928” by George G. Frederick, and “Kilns and Crushers Vol. 3: Dodge County WI” by Daniel Seurer and Joel Valle.
In 1875, Charles (Chas) Ruedebusch, Sr., acquired the limestone quarry and lime kiln of Henry Mace at Brown’s Corners, entering into a partnership with Mace’s son Garwin.
The lime works became known as the Ruedebusch & Mace Lime Works. It produced quicklime and supplied fluxstone for the bustling iron industry in Mayville.
Soon after acquiring the business, Ruedebusch discovered that “it was necessary to make expensive changes and to build several new kilns.”
Two new lime kilns were built between 1870 and 1880 for a total of three.

“Up to this time, the kilns had been used temporarily,” wrote Ruedebusch. “I soon realized that good results could only be obtained if a sufficient market could be found to run the works steadily.”
In 1877, Ruedebusch and Mace sold a right-of-way deed to the Fond du Lac, Amboy, and Peoria Railway Co. to cross through the Town of Williamstown. The company ran a narrow-gauge rail from Fond du Lac to Iron Ridge before it went bankrupt. Likely, the railway never transported lime products from the lime works until the abandoned railway was converted to a standard gauge railroad by the Milwaukee Railroad.
“That was key transportation for Mayville White Lime and still is with its predecessor, Wisconsin and Southern Railroad,” said lime kiln historian and photographer Daniel Seurer.
Although the Fond du Lac, Amboy, and Peoria railroad didn’t provide goods transportation as expected. By 1882, the lime works reached its highest valuation since 1868, when it was solely operated by the Mace family. But Ruedebusch was far from finished with creating a “sufficient market.”
Chas Ruedebusch and Garwin Mace partnered with J. H. Andrae and Co. in 1885. Julius Andrae owned a competing lime kiln near Knowles and had opened another in Mayville the previous year. Together, the companies opened a lime retail and marketing office in Chicago called Mayville Lime Co. Frank Marling, Andrae’s son-in-law, managed the office.
Ruedebusch & Mace opened another sales outlet in Minneapolis called Minneapolis Lime and Cement Co. with Marion Mace and Chas’ son, Emil F. Ruedebusch.
The partnered companies quickly saw increases in their out-of-state sales and began shipping more products. As stated in “Iron is King,” “The local railroad station shipped out in 1885 an average of twenty-five carloads of freight daily, consisting mainly of pig iron, limestone, and coal,” and by 1890, the company produced 15 carloads of lime daily.
With the success of the new offices and the building craze created by the upcoming World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, the lime works decided to open a second office on the South Side of Chicago. A decision that threatened to become the company’s dagger.
“But the World’s Fair brought to us, as it did with so many others, many bitter disappointments, and with our large warehouses, 28 horses, and numerous workers, we found ourselves with hardly any business,” stated Ruedebusch, “Great losses ensued. The partnership was dissolved, and only after a time of great worry and extreme exertion, I again was able to make this part of the business a success.”
In 1891, the company was incorporated as the Mayville White Lime Works with Chas Ruedebusch serving as president, Garwin Mace as manager, and Emil Ruedebusch as secretary-treasurer. Mace left the corporation later that year, moving his family to Menomonee Falls, where he developed a successful network of quarries and kilns in the area. Chas’ nephew, Herman Ruedebusch, replaced him as manager, grounding the company as a family business.