Rudolstadt was first mentioned in documents around the year 776 as "Rudolfestat" and has had city rights since 1326. The town came into the possession of the Counts of Schwarzburg around 1340. As the capital and residence of the later principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, it experienced an intellectual heyday between the 18th and 19th centuries in the cultural triangle with Weimar and Jena. The work of famous poets and scholars such as Schiller and Goethe, Fichte, Humboldt and Schopenhauer, the musicians Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt and Paganini as well as the pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel are closely connected with the city and its surroundings.

In addition to the porcelain manufactories that had been in existence since the middle of the 18th century, industrialization set in only belatedly. Rudolstadt remained a farming town for a long time. In 1874, the town was connected to the railroad network. One of the subsequent company foundations, the Richter company, made Rudolstadt known to the world with pharmaceuticals and toys, such as the famous stone building sets under the trademark "Anker".

After the abdication of the last prince of Schwarzburg in 1918, Rudolstadt became a district town in 1922. With the establishment of a synthetic fiber plant in the Schwarza district in 1935, Rudolstadt became an important location for the chemical industry, which it has remained to the present day. Rudolstadt continues to be known for its rich cultural traditions, including as the "city of dance festivals", as a theater city and through the over 275-year-old folk festival "Rudolstädter Vogelschießen".

With its landmark, Heidecksburg Castle, which rises imposingly above the old town to the north, Rudolstadt still enjoys the reputation of being a cultural gem in Thuringia.