The Richfield post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Plat (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,617 in 19002020 census: 11,739172 years
How historic is Richfield?
B
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Richfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Richfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richfield is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #182 of 362 in Wisconsin. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Richfield’s overall grade.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Richfield’s 6.0 sits above most of its state (67% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 (±4.6 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 Richfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area that is now Richfield was originally inhabited by Native Americans, including the Menominee and Potawatomi. In the early 1830s, the Menominee ceded their land to the United States through the 1831 Treaty of Washington. The Potawatomi ceded their territory in the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, which called for their removal by 1838. Most Potawatomi were relocated west of the Mississippi River, but some remained in Wisconsin where they lived on ancestral lands by squatting in areas now occupied by white settlement.
The Richfield post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Richfield rank for history?
Richfield is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #182 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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 Richfield?
One place: the Messer-Mayer Mill (listed 2007).
How old are the homes in Richfield?
12% of Richfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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