Ruthrauff Road, which runs east from Interstate 10, is named after a man who is credited with turning Tucson from a sleepy village with dirt streets into a modern city.
John Mosheim Ruthrauff Jr., known to those who knew him as "Mos," was born on Dec. 6, 1886, in Dixon, Ill.
He attended public schools in Illinois but in 1904 he came to Tucson with his older brother, mother and sister. William Ruthrauff, Mos' brother, came here in hopes of curing his wife's tuberculosis.
Mos Ruthrauff earned a bachelor's degree in metallurgy in 1909 from the University of Arizona. He was captain of the football team.
In 1910, he became superintendent of Oxide Calumet Copper Co. in Silverbell, Ariz. In August of the same year, he wed Nellie L. Kellum. They had four children, but only two survived: Virginia and Mary Elizabeth.
From 1912 to 1917, Ruthrauff was chief engineer for the city of Tucson. He guided all public works related to the first paving and lighting of city streets. He designed and constructed the Fourth Avenue underpass under the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks.
He also planned and built the old City Hall, which bore his name on the cornerstone, and the original Congress Street bridge above the Santa Cruz River.
During World War I, Ruthrauff served in the Army Corps of Engineering from 1917 to 1919 and reached the rank of captain. He was charged with maintaining the water supply on the front lines in France from Verdun to the Swiss border.
After the war he returned home and worked as a consulting engineer and paving contractor, and spent two years as the county engineer.
Ruthrauff was influential in acquiring land for the city's airport, which later became Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. He was also vice president of the University of Arizona Alumni Association.
He died in 1926 at 39 years old. On the day of his funeral, schools and government offices were closed, and as his coffin was being lowered into the ground, a plane circled overhead and thousands of flowers were dropped to the ground.
Nominate a street
Each week the Star tells the stories behind Tucson street names. If you have streets to suggest or stories to share, contact writer David Leighton at streetsmarts@azstarnet.com.
Thanks to reader Tim Hart for suggesting Ruthrauff Road. Sources: Judith Williams, "Plaza of Pioneers," Tucson Museum of Art, 1982. Arizona Historical Society. Interview with Shirley Beaham Moore (granddaughter of John "Mos" Ruthrauff).
