From the archives: Richland Township

As the Librarian here at The Intelligencer, I thought readers would be interested to see some of the photographs and stories I come across in our archives as I go about my day. With more than 200 years of history, The Intelligencer has covered myriad issues of great significance, both local and worldwide, since its founding in 1804. History is who we are: We learn from the past, and it is of great importance to our growth as a people that we not forget it.

Although writing From the archives is by far my favorite part of my job, it seems that a librarian's duties are legion. For the next few weeks, alas, you'll only see these posts on Mondays. Meanwhile I'll be fearlessly attempting to slay the inky beast of unarchived newspaper that lurks on my desk.

To soothe what I'm sure must be your very great distress after hearing this, I thought I'd do a series on Bucks County's townships and boroughs. I thought about doing them alphabetically, but instead I'm going to just close my eyes and point. Here goes ....

Richland Township


After a little browsing, I found a typewritten pamphlet from the Richland Historical Society, circa 1975. The Society, organized in 1958, is still alive and kicking (and has a nice little Web site to boot) with meetings  on the third Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m.

(Click the image for a larger view.)

It seems that their main focus is the history of the one-room school — indeed, their meetings are held in Shelly's School, one of nine one-room schoolhouses located in the township prior to 1957, when area schools were consolidated into the Quakertown Community School System.

— Rayna Polsky, Intelligencer Librarian

P.S.: Until From the archives gets back up to speed, you can also check out www.BucksCountyHistory.org, my personal local history site.

Curious? Reminiscent? Nostalgic, even? Tell your friendly neighborhood Librarian. Who knows — your story might even pop up here! Send your e-mails to rpolsky@phillyburbs.com. Use the subject ‘From the archives’.