Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The Rulo Bridge is a bridge that carries U.S. Route 159 over the Missouri River between Rulo, Nebraska and Minton Township, Missouri west of Big Lake.”
Wikipedia article Rulo Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 11 National Register listings published here for Richardson County · category: Structure.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Rulo Precinct in History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917 names Rulo. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Rulo precinct occupies die southeast corner and takes its name from the city of Rulo. The town was founded by Charles Rouleau, a bYenchman, who settled on the site of the town in 1855. The town is located on the Missouri river alx)ut two miles north of the Great Nemaha, and lies on what was l(irmerl\- known as the Half-Breed tract: consequently, the town and the land surrciunding it were allotted to and for a long time held by the halfjjreed Indians and white men who bad married into the Lo family.
Passage source: History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917.
For some years this element seriously retarded the progress ant! growth of this section of our county, but they disappeared before the tide of immigration that was attracted to this \icinity by its many natural advantages. The town of Rulo contained several hundred (perhaps seven or eight hundred) people prior to the coming of the railroad in 1871 and thereafter rapidly improved. In the year 1870, just prior to the coming of the railroad, which was built in from the south on this side of the river, this point handled more than one hundred thousand bushels of corn. A steam corn sheller was used for shelling the corn and the grain merchants there had much to complain of in regard to transportation facilities. One line of steamers had a monopoly upon the entire carrying trade on the river and practiced extortion in the way of high freight rates and, like the later and greater railroad monopoly, were as much displeasing to the shipper, as they carried the grain when they pleased, witliout reference to the convenience or interest of the shippers. This condition caused the shippers to pray for the speedy arri\al of the "iron horse," which forever (or at least to the present time), has put the boats out of business. They felt that the first snort of the iron horse coming from the south or east, along the valley of the Missouri, would spoil the nice little thing so long enjoyed by the steamboat men exclusively.
Passage source: History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, published 1917.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Rulo Precinct - 11,072 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Rulo Bridge between 2016 and 2020, burning about 116 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 March 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Horton Agency | DAVIS |
| 6 March 2020 | Debris and open burning | 100 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 18 February 2017 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 20 November 2020 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 11 October 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rulo, the town this property stands in, in 27 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 11 flood, 9 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Flood | Rulo | $75,000 | This was the second, and more significant flood of the Missouri River near Rulo in the month of June. The river crested at 21.47 ft, or 5.47 feet above flood stage. In addition to significant agricultural low-land flooding, some cabins along the river also flooded. |
| September 2014 | Flood | Rulo | $10,000 | The Missouri River rose above flood stage during the afternoon of the 10th, and crested during the early morning hours on the 11th, before falling below flood stage on the afternoon of the 12th. The flooding was minor and confined to low-lying areas along the river. |
| October 2014 | Flood | Rulo | $5,000 | Heavy rainfall at the end of September caused the Missouri River to go into flood. The river rose above flood stage in the afternoon on the 1st, crested on the afternoon of the 2nd, and fell below flood stage on the evening of the 3rd. The river flooding was minor and mainly confined to low-lying areas along the river. |
| April 2024 | Tornado (EFU) | Rulo | - | Report received of a tornado touchdown a mile to the south-southwest of Rulo, Nebraska over NAWAS. No damage was observed after the fact, so a rating could not be assigned. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | Public reported tree limbs down in town. |
| May 2020 | Hail | Rulo | - | Public reported hail 1 inch. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | A tree was blown down in Rulo from thunderstorm winds. All of Rulo was without power for about one hour due to the thunderstorm. |
| April 2016 | Flood | Rulo | - | Minor flooding was observed along the Missouri River near Rulo. The river rose above flood stage at the end of April, but the flooding continued into early May when the crest was observed. |
| May 2016 | Flood | Rulo | - | A prolonged period of flooding was observed along the Missouri River near the city of Rulo. The river crested twice during the period, once on the 2rd at 19.79 feet, and again in moderate flood on the 12th at 21 feet. This created an extended period of lowland agricultural flooding along the river. There were also several cabins that flooded along the river. |
| April 2016 | Flood | Rulo | - | Heavy rain events on the 20th into the 21st created minor flooding on the Missouri River. The river crested 0.54 feet above flood stage at Rulo in southeast Nebraska. |
| May 2016 | Flood | Rulo | - | Minor flooding to agricultural lowland along the river was observed with a crest of 20.89 feet. The river flooding continued into the month of June. |
| June 2015 | Flood | Rulo | - | Minor flooding was observed along the Missouri River near Rulo. The river crested 3.34 feet above flood stage. The flooding was confined to mainly low areas near the river channel. |
| May 2015 | Flood | Rulo | - | Heavy rainfall over parts of southeast Nebraska on the 6th and 7th of May resulting in minor flooding along the Missouri River near Rulo. The river crested at 17.30 feet, or .3 feet above flood state during the early morning on the 9th of May. The flooding was confined to low-lying areas along the river. |
| December 2015 | Flood | Rulo | - | Heavy rainfall over a two-day period in mid December brought the Missouri River to rise above flood stage. The crest reached 20.53 feet in the early morning hours of December 16th. This was 3.53 feet above flood stage. Flooding was confined to low agricultural areas along the river. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph caused some tree damage in the Rulo area. A swing set also sustained significant damage. |
| May 2013 | Flood | Rulo | - | The Missouri River at Rulo went above flood stage late in the morning of May 28th, crested around 23.5 feet late in the evening of the 30th and eventually fell below flood stage early in the morning of June 2nd. Although the river mostly flooded agricultural lowlands, several cabins and possibly a business in the area either experienced minor flooding or were threatened by the flooding. |
| April 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | A thunderstorm wind gust estimated at 60 mph was reported by the public and relayed to the NWS through the county dispatch. |
| June 2009 | Hail | Rulo | - | Hail up to golf ball-size covered the ground from around 4 miles west of Rulo through Rulo and just northeast of town. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | Thunderstorm winds downed power lines near Rulo. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rulo | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated to over 60 mph snapped numerous trees up to 12 inches in diameter in Rulo. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| March 2008 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Rulo | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 92000718 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Richardson County | All 11 listed properties in this county. |
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