Rudolph Ulrich was born in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He immigrated to the United States in 1868. Trained as a landscape gardener in Europe, he built a successful career designing and installing gardens and grounds for private and public clients across the United States. Frederick Law Olmsted brought Ulrich in to assist with landscape design at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.