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Bope Road soybean fieldsPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
A+History
History · Richland Township

27% of Richland Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Joseph Ijams House. Below: maps from 1909 on.

3on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Richland Township’s history

How historic is Richland Township?

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More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Richland Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richland Township is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Richland Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 97%
NewerOlder

Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Richland Township’s 341 sits above most of its state (98% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 89 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.2 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 Richland Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Richland Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Richland Township on the map, 1909 to 1985

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

Richland Township on the 1909 USGS mapRichland Township on the 1961 USGS mapRichland Township on the 1985 USGS map1909Thornville sheet · 1:62,500

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Oakthorpe, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Oakthorpe
Gone or out of use
Kurlin SchoolschoolOakthorpe Post Officepost officeShakes Run SchoolschoolWillard Schoolschool
13cemeteries and burying grounds inside Richland Township
ChapelCloudCustardDrummFriend RuffnerKaufman - ValentineNew OakthorpeOld OakthorpeReidRushvilleStevensonWest RushvilleWoolard

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

The story so far

Richland Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Richland Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Richland Township is one of the thirteen townships of Fairfield County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 2,307.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,195 to 2,307 (+5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Richland Township, 1810 to 1909

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1810BuiltJoseph Ijams House is built
  3. 1892Post officeThe Oakthorpe post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900Post officeThe Oakthorpe post office closes
  6. 1909On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Richland Township, decade by decade

On the National Register

3 listings protect 89 historic buildings

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
89
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Joseph Ijams House

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Richland Township

Nobody well known was born in Richland Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Richland Township’s history

How does Richland Township rank for history?

Richland Township is more historic than 97% 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.

What is on the National Register in Richland Township?

3 listings: 1 building, among them the Joseph Ijams House (listed 1983, the first). 89 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Richland Township?

27% of Richland Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1984.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.