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Brown Hotel (Boundary Increase)Brown Hotel (Boundary Increase) · Photo: 25or6to4 · CC BY-SA 4.0
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History · Richfield Township

Richfield Township’s post office opened in 1886, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Richfield Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1890.

1886first post office
4on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Richfield Township began

When was Richfield Township founded?

1886

The Richfield Township post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Dermot (1886), Frisco (1886) and Kyle (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 164 in 18902020 census: 139140 years
Founding year: the first Richfield Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Richfield Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Richfield Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Richfield Township.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Richfield Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Richfield Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dermot
1886–1929
Frisco
1886–1888
Kyle
1886–1887
Morton
1888–1900
18801950today
Gone or out of use
CundifflocaleDermot Elementary SchoolschoolFriscolocaleKylelocale
1cemetery inside Richfield Township
Richfield

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the National Register

4 historic places in Richfield Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Morton County WPA Bridge
Morton County WPA Bridge, built 1936Brown BarnSanta Fe Trail-Cimarron National Grassland Segment 4Santa Fe Trail-Cimarron National Grassland Segment 5
BuildingsSitesStructures
Morton County WPA BridgeBuilt 1936
All 4 listings
Brown BarnBuilding · listed 2009Santa Fe Trail-Cimarron National Grassland Segment 4Site · listed 2013Santa Fe Trail-Cimarron National Grassland Segment 5Site · listed 2013

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Richfield Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Richfield Township.

Read it all →

Richfield was platted in 1885 and was named for the fertility of the land. A town was built up quickly: in less than one year, Richfield had 600 inhabitants. In 1886, Morton County was founded and Richfield was established as the county seat.

In the 1930s, the area was further affected by its location within the Dust Bowl. This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region.

In 1961, the county seat was moved from Richfield to Elkhart. Richfield has subsequently been the center for basic services for residents of the surrounding rural region: school, postal, fire and police, food and fuel.

Chapters19th century20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Richfield Township, 1886 to 1973

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Dermot post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Frisco post office opens
  4. 1886Post officeThe Kyle post office opens
  5. 1887Post officeThe Kyle post office closes
  6. 1888Post officeThe Frisco post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1929Post officeThe Dermot post office closes
  9. 1936BuiltMorton County WPA Bridge is built
  10. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Richfield Township on the map, 1973 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Richfield Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Richfield Township on the 1973 USGS mapRichfield Township on the 1983 USGS map1973Shore Airport SW sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Richfield Township.

People over time

Richfield Township, census by census

01001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 164

Between 30 and 164 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Richfield Township’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Richfield Township’s history

What year was Richfield Township founded?

The Richfield Township post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Richfield Township?

4 listings: 1 building, 2 sites, and 1 structure.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.