Richville's 120 Year Celebration poster. (Richville Happenings Facebook Page)
Richville, MN – On Saturday, August 24th, the City of Richville is celebrating it’s 120th anniversary.
There will be a pancake breakfast to start the day off, followed by lots of fun activities throughout the day, including a Richville reunion, bouncy houses, vendors, lunch at the Rockin Horse, family games, a parade, treasure hunt, a vets’ Memorial at the cemetery, face painting, live music, a kid’s pedal pull, and fireworks.
Richville developed following the arrival of the Soo Line in 1901; businesses included an elevator, a creamery, and a pickle company.
It was one of several towns in Otter Tail County that was platted by the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, which was recorded in October of 1903.
The Village of Richville was officially organized in 1904 and was named after Watson Wellman Rich, a railroad engineer.
Rich served in the Fourth Minnesota regiment in the civil war, attaining the rank of captain; engaged in engineering work for several railroad lines in Minnesota, and after 1897 was chief consulting engineer of the Imperial Chinese Railway Administration until he passed away in January of 1903.
The post office began in 1904 in postmaster Charley A. Friberg’s general store.
By 1916 there were 350 people, but in the 1920’s, the railroad left town and by 1937 the population had gone down to 178 people.