Rudell Brothers

Willie, Jack and Pete Rudell

     Rudell Brothers was started as an excavating business in the spring of 1946, when the youngest brother, Bill "Willie", was discharged from the Army of WWII.

The building was located on Main Street (Red Arrow Highway) just west of the Tastee Freeze (now known as Mollie's Turn Around). 

Started with a crane and dump truck, they added another dump truck and a bulldozer.  Their business consisted of digging basements, pushing orchards out, and installing city sewer system.  In 1951, they erected a Ready Mix Cement plant. 

   Pete, Jack, and Willie continued with this arrangement until 1967, when Jack left the business to pursue other interest.  Pete and Bill continued to run the plant until Pete death in 1970.  Bill sold the plant to Heckman Brothers of Allegan, MI.  Soon thereafter, Bill went to work for Indiana Michigan Electric Co. at the Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman MI running their cement plant to construct the Nuclear facility.

       The building was later owned by Todd and Margaret Swift Efting and housed Efting Construction.  After several years in business, the building was vacated, however, Efting Construction remained in business. The front building was destroyed by fire in 2002 after being unoccupied for several years.  The Ready Concrete Cement building was expanded and remodeled.  As of this date, the remodeled building is occupied by D & J Auction at 415 W. Main St.

12/2004 - Photos and history provided by Bernice Matrau Rudell, wife of Bill "Willie" Rudell.

Information for this web site was gathered from personal interviews, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, personal photo albums, and other documented materials - many available to the public at the Hartford Public Library or Van Buren County Historical Museum.  Please report any typographical errors, updated information, or incorrectly stated information to the webmaster for correction.  Reprinting for personal and instructional purposes is permitted, however, unauthorized commercial reprinting of this information or unauthorized linking to photos-pictures on this site is strictly prohibited without written permission from the webmaster. 

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© 
A Pictorial History of Hartford, Michigan
Emma Thornburg Sefcik,
Competent Secretarial Service
History of Hartford
Copyright © 2000 - All rights reserved.


Revised: July 04, 2008