A promotional brochure produced in 1897 described the community as follows: "Located ten miles from Philadelphia, on the line of the Central Division of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, three minutes walk from Morton Station – it is reached in from 20 to 30 minutes by 21 trains daily… To the west lies the magnificent Swarthmore College, and to the southeast, three miles away, lies the Delaware River... its school is one of the finest in the county; its houses are neat and attractive, and their owners take great pride in their homes and the adornment of their grounds."

There is a long-standing legend that the borough was named after Ann Rutledge, the first-love of Abraham Lincoln.

This erroneous story is perpetuated in the Keystone Marker that greets those approaching Rutledge from the south on Morton Avenue.

The actual story, according to the founders' brochure, is that the town was named after a then-popular romantic novel Rutledge written by Miriam Coles Harris published in 1860.

However, the site of what is now Rutledge borough was once a section of land on the estate of Edward Rutledge,[citation needed] who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina and was the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1958, George Raymond, the president of the NAACP Chester branch, purchased a house in Rutledge.

[6] After the fire, the township attempted to exercise eminent domain and claim Raymond's property as a site for a new town hall.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Rutledge has a total area of 0.14 square miles (0.37 km2), all land.

As of Census 2010, the racial makeup of the borough was 91.7% White, 2.9% African American, 3.1% Asian, and 2.3% from two or more races.