Rudolph Sorm

Rudolph Sorm (1898 - 1948) Was an American entrepreneur and founder of Sorm's, an American based chain of gas stations, shower station houses, and truck stops that has been in operation since 1913 headquartered in Metter, Georgia.

Early Life

Anna and Karl Sorm, 1892

Rudolph Sorm was born to German immigrants Anna and Karl Sorm in Savannah, Georgia in 1898. Sorm's Father, Karl Sorm established a fishing bait and tackle shop on Wilmington Island, Ga in the 1870s, which was a largely uninhabited Island at the time.

The shop became a premier meeting place for Savannah businessmen and political figures by the 1890s before it was burned in 1907 by an angry mob. Earlier that year, Anna and Karl Sorm had made public their support and endorsement of mayoral candidate Heinrich "Spark" Spenglemaier, a fellow german immigrant to Savannah. Spenglemaier was highly favored in the mayoral race of 1907 until it was discovered that he had been running illegal chicken and dog "swamp races" on the Ogeechee river.

Spenglemaier would collect local chickens and abduct the citizens of Savannah's pet dogs, then place them on a large wooden barge in the Ogeechee River near the abandoned civil war Fort Mcallister. He would then have the animals race to a finish line before returning the pets to their homes safely before the morning. Initially, a group of local men known as "The Fortmen" who lived inside the ruins at Fort Mcallister would place bets on which animal they thought would win, but eventually the gambling operation attracted the attention of residents from neighboring islands and of Savannah.

What participants in the betting activities didn't know was that Spenglemaier had rigged the contest by training one particular dog, "Lightening Bolt Linman" to easily beat the competition each time and would disguise Lightening Bolt Linman to look like a different dog or chicken for each race. The gambling scheme continued for some time until 1907, when one of the Fortmen, James R. Hall, an invalid civil war veteran and brother of Charles Hall, a wealthy businessman in Savannah who had established several large construction businesses and home furnishing stores, lost a 1,000 dollar bet during one of Spenglemaier's rigged races. The 1,000 dollars was a loan from James's brother Charles Hall. When Charles Hall found out about the incident, he rallied the local business community and elites of Savannah to turn against Spenglemaier and unmask his illegal gambling scheme.

Though there was never any proof, Karl Sorm was seen as having been aware and even aiding Spenglemaier's operation by offering a stop off point for travelers on the way to participate in the gambling activities at Fort Mcallister and as being very friendly with Spenglemaier. Sorm's fishing bait and tackle shop was burned the same night Spenglemaier's barge was sunk and he mysteriously went missing, never to be found again.

Karl Sorm rebuilt his shop the following year in 1908 but never could never regain the rich clientele he had once garnered, having fallen out of favor with Savannah elites.

Rudolph Sorm pictured in front of "The Borm Nest," the vacant lot in Metter, Ga which would later become the first Sorm's.

Rudolph worked in his fathers shop as a teenager and sold cricket soup to local swamp boys as a way to build capital allowing him to purchase a small plot of land in Metter, Ga in 1913, where he would establish the first Sorm's traveling gas shop. In the following decades, Rudolph established Sorm's, a chain of gas stations, shower station houses, and truck stops. The business quickly grew and by 1950 Sorm's had over 100 locations in five states throughout the Southeast.

Personal Life

Rudolph Sorm died in 1948 from food poisoning

Sorm's Tomb in Metter, Ga. 1971