Founding year: the first Rich Hill post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rich Hill’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rich Hill is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rich Hill’s overall grade.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Rich Hill’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Rich Hill’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Rich Hill was platted in 1880. The city was named in 1871 by C.W. Ratekin and used the slogan "The Town That Coal Built". The town experienced a rapid population expansion during the late 1800s, until mining efforts began to decline and eventually ended in 1906. The mining effort was renewed by Peabody Energy in the 1950s.
The Prairie View Stock Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Passages that mention Rich Hill, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bates County, Missouri1918 · page 306Read the page →
Read the text
Goming now to the city of Rich Hill, proper, Gol. Ed Brown has been, and properly, too, called the "Father of Rich Hill." A graduate of an Eastern college, an officer in the army in the Givil War, a promoter of rare ability, he it was who succeeded in enlisting capital to build the Missouri Pacific railway from Pleasant Hill to Joplin. It is said that he went to New York and called on Jay Gould and informed him that he was going to build a railroad through the Rich Hill coal fields and after showing the advantages of such a route to Mr. Gould he told him that
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Bates County, Missouri1918 · page 211Read the page →
Read the text
In April, 1881, after the town was established in June previous, an election was called for the reorganization of the school district and for the election of school directors. Previous to June, 1881, there were only fifteen pupils within the district known as the Rich Hill School District. There was then a little school house, about 14 x 16. east of the city of Rich Hill. At this election the district was reorganized and Rich Hill was selected as the site for the school building of the district. A vote of three per cent, on the then taxable property of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The old settlers' history of Bates County, Missouri1897 · page 72Read the page →
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The Rich Hill Gazette was established at Rich Hill in 1880, by Hurkeby <$: Eld rid. ire, who were in 1881 succeeded by Eldridge & Cobb. In the samp year, also at Rich Hill, The Mining Review was launched by Thos. Irish, and in 1881 The Western Enterprise was started at the same place by Wiseman <v. Magill. The Adrian Advertiser was established at the new town of Adrian, by E. T. Kirkpatrick, in 1881*.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Rich Hill’s history
What year was Rich Hill founded?
The Rich Hill post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rich Hill rank for history?
Rich Hill is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Rich Hill?
20% of Rich Hill’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1972.
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).
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
