Former Outville Railroad Station Photograph

Color photograph taken by amateur photographer S.V. Rugg II in 1963 of the Outville Railroad Station building in Outville, OH. S.V. Rugg’s grandfather—also named Sylvester V. Rugg—and his great-uncles served as railroad agents for the B & O Railroad in Outville. The station was remodeled and relocated in Outville to stand behind the former home of Francis Merle “F.M.” Rugg, son of S.V. Rugg I and father of S.V. Rugg II. The Ruggs of Licking County were a large family of successful entrepreneurs and businessmen. The patriarch of the family, Samuel Rugg (1815-1901), father of S.V. Rugg I, arrived in Perry County, OH as a young boy. He became a successful farmer and profited from owning land with coal deposits. He and his wife Anna Nancy (Imel) Rugg had ten children and relocated to a farm in Licking County near the village of Outville. Samuel used his wealth to set his children upon their own entrepreneurial endeavors. The most successful of these was the business of his son, E.T. (Ephraim) Rugg, whose rope and halter store in Alexandria, OH would grow to become a major manufacturer of lawn mowers in Newark, OH. S.V. Rugg II donated a large number of photographs and family history notes that are now part of the Licking County Library’s local history collections. S.V. Rugg II was E.T.’s grandnephew and worked for the E.T. Rugg Company.