In 1953 Chester J. Rust and David W. Rust went together and purchased a brand new Caterpillar D6 dozer for $12,565 and started the excavation company Rust Brothers located near Seymour, IN.  They acquired another dozer in 1955 and in 1956 Chester purchased David's half of the business and renamed it C.J. Rust Construction.  In the beginning, Chester made a living helping local farmers by providing land clearing and excavation services.

 
 Throughout the next several years Chester grew both his company and his family.  After his marriage to Linda in 1955, their first son Matt was born in 1956 and then their other son Mark was born in 1957 and it didn't take long for the boys to love playing on their dad's earth moving equipment.  Linda Rust was now handling the office duties and anything else that needed done for the company as well taking care of the Leah, the newest addition to their family in 1960.  As the boys grew so did the size of their dad's equipment.  C.J. Rust Construction spent the next years providing excavation services to both the government and private individuals.  Numerous lakes, site preparations and drainage improvement projects were completed.  Chester built a great reputation as a dam contractor and C.J. Rust Construction was called on to build many of southern Indiana’s lakes.

The 70’s allowed Chester to expand his excavation business into coal mining in western Kentucky.  With the expansion of Chester’s business into Kentucky, he split the excavation operations into Rust Construction, Inc. to take care of the Indiana business and Rust of Kentucky to take care of the Kentucky excavation projects.  The 80’s showed additional change as Rust Construction, Inc. expanded its scope of services offered to include land reclamation for abandoned coal mines and landfill cell construction.  In 1995 Chester “retired” from the excavation business  and his oldest son Matt assumed the duties of president of Rust Construction, Inc.  Matt continues to carry on the family excavation business and oversees Rust Construction's day to day operations..