Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near West Rulo Rulo, NE

Rulo is an incorporated village in Richardson County, Nebraska, standing on the west bank of the Missouri River at the state's eastern edge.

Rulo was laid out in 1857, a decade before Nebraska became a state, making it one of the state's oldest river towns.

The village was named for Charlie Rouleau, the original owner of the town site, with the name shortened to Rulo.

Rulo was once a substantial Missouri River town: it already had 611 residents in 1870 and peaked at 877 in 1900.

The foundation of the original Rulo Bridge, a toll bridge across the Missouri River, was laid in 1933; construction began in 1938 with the Works Progress Administration financing half the cost, and the bridge was finished in 1939.

A new bridge carrying U.S. Highway 159 across the Missouri River opened at Rulo in 2013, and the 1939 bridge — too narrow for modern farm machinery and semi-trailers — was demolished in 2014.

The 2020 census counted roughly 145 residents in Rulo.

In the 2010 census, Rulo had 172 people in 85 households; nearly a quarter of its residents, 23.8 percent, were Native American.

Rulo made national news in the early 1980s when a Christian Identity survivalist group led by Michael W. Ryan operated from a farm north of the village; Ryan was convicted of two murders committed there.

Rulo is served by the Falls City Public Schools district.