The name Rutersdorf is first documented by the mention of a Reinboto de Rothardestorp in 1216. It is very likely that he named himself after the place near Stadtroda where he probably had a liege. The content of the document and another document written in 1227 naming Reinboto de Rutardesdorf make this seem credible. The place itself was first mentioned in 1349/50.
In 1636 the village church in Rutersdorf was built. From 1873 to 1876 a section of the Weimar-Gera railway was built in Zeitzgrund. In 1909 the town received electricity and in 1930 it was connected to the public water supply. On April 13, 1945, at the end of the Second World War, US soldiers moved into Ruttersdorf. After their withdrawal, the place was in the Soviet occupation zone and from 1949 in the GDR. On July 1, 1950, Rutersdorf merged with the smaller neighboring town of Lotschen to form the community of Rutersdorf-Lotschen. 21 farms in the town were collectivized in 1960 to form the LPG “Buntsandstein” with 1442 hectares of usable area. After reunification, a commercial area was developed on the outskirts in 1992. At the beginning of 2017, 271 people lived in the village.