Of our 14 townships, Richland is the eighth in the order of formation and it was quite large when originally formed by the county commissioners on March 4, 1834. Quite literally, the commissioners selected the name Richland because of the fertility of the soil.
Madison County’s rich forest soil, when stripped of the trees, was gaining notoriety beyond its borders for its fertility, especially in the flat, well-watered till plain.
The township’s original boundaries included all its current 28 1/2 square miles plus all of Monroe Township except for three square miles in the northwestern part, the eastern half of Lafayette Township, and a half a mile wide across the northern part of Union Township.
Two creeks water the township. Killbuck Creek is the principal waterway entering from neighboring Delaware County near the northeast corner and traversing in a southwesterly direction, exiting near the township’s southwest corner before entering White River.
In the southwestern corner Killbuck Creek is joined by its smaller namesake, Little Killbuck Creek, whose origin is also in Delaware County. Both creeks are named for the Delaware Indian Chief, Killbuck, whose known existence in Madison County spans at least 20 years, 1801 to 1821.
William Curtis is acknowledged as the first to settle in Richland Township when he built a log cabin in 1830 near Killbuck Creek some place in the southwest corner.
It was about that same time that the Shelbyville and Fort Wayne State Road was laid out with a portion of it passing through Richland Township. That road today is known as the Alexandria Pike, short for the Anderson and Alexandria Turnpike. It was the principal north-south highway through the township for 100 years until Indiana State Road 9 was constructed in the 1930s.
The presence of Killbuck Creek and the old state road were contributing factors that encouraged early settlement in the township. Before the close of 1831, and only a year after the state road was opened, several pioneers had settled within convenient distances, and the more enterprising of them introduced some modern innovations capitalizing on the nearby water supply.
In 1833, a sawmill was built by Mathew Fenimore on Killbuck Creek near the future township’s southwest corner. A dam across the creek supplied the necessary water power to operate the mill. Utilizing the same dam two men, the original settler William Curtis and James Barnes, built a grist mill.
Roughly three miles upstream, Benjamin Walker built another sawmill supplying lumber needs to growing settlements in that area. In 1840, he added a carding mill to his enterprise. It was a mechanical process that disentangled, cleaned and intermixed fibers to produce a continuous web of wool suitable for subsequent processing, satisfying the need for the weaving of clothing and bedding among other things.
Capitalizing on the proximity of the carding machine, John Purcell established a woolen factory to manufacture and sell woolen products. With the coming of steam-operated mills, which could be located wherever the owners chose, the old water-powered mills were dismantled and allowed to fall into ruin.
All of this activity brought people and the establishment of communities, none of which ever grew to any significant size. The oldest was Moonsville, laid out by Zimri Moon in 1835. Between 1838 and 1840, there was a heightened level of activity brought about by the construction of the nearby Indiana Central Canal. It was speculated the canal would be an economic boom to the new village, but with the suspension of canal construction in 1839-40, Moonsville declined.
Over time, the name has been a subject of debate. Some called it Moonville while others preferred the plural, Moonsville. The finding for the latter was decided with the discovery of the town’s original plat map.
On December 19, 1834, Ninevah Berry, surveyor of Madison County, drew the plat for “Moonsville” as directed by Zimri Moon. The recording of this plat did not take place until May 7, 1835. The heading of the plat distinctly bears the title “Town of Moonsville,” thus settling the debate.
About 1838, the village of Pittsborough was laid out by John Beal and others on the state road. It was immediately north of the present site of Prosperity. Several lots were sold soon after the town was laid out, as the records of the county commissioners’ court for the 1839 March term show. It was a canal town and Jeremiah Judd was licensed to sell groceries and liquors for the year 1839. The old settlers used to tell of the fights that occurred among the canal diggers, especially upon or immediately after pay day. There were several stores and residences, most of them log structures common to that period. When the canal was abandoned, most of the inhabitants moved on and Pittsborough ceased to exist.
Prosperity was founded by John Beal and Hiram Louder on the speculation that better times were ahead with the planned Indiana Central Canal Construction passing nearby.
For a time the village flourished, which is probably responsible for the name. When the Anderson and Alexandria Turnpike was built in 1858 utilizing a portion of the old state road, a toll gate was placed there and fees were collected to defray the cost of needed road improvements.
The death of the canal was a severe blow to the village. The discontinuance of the post office on August 6, 1875, added to the decline, and with the inauguration of the free gravel road system, even the toll gate was abolished.
Prior to the construction of State Road 9 in the late 1930s, passenger buses used Alexandria Pike as a main thoroughfare north out of Anderson. During the Great Depression, bus drivers nearing the town would give their passengers a sense of hope by announcing “Folks, we are now entering Prosperity.”
Mount Pleasant was situated in the neighborhood of the Dill and Thornburg farm, adjoining the Jacob Bronnenberg land. It was located about where the Bethany Pointe Health Campus on Bethany Road is today. Also a result of the planned canal, it came too late in the days of canal fever, as the work on the canal had been abandoned in 1839, the year Mount Pleasant was laid out. John Thornburg built the only house there.
Finally, the area at the intersection of County Road 400 North and County Road 100 East acquired the name College Corner where a one-room schoolhouse was built on the southeast corner in 1884. Presumably, it was named in recognition of a place of learning. It eventually would be one of three one-room schoolhouses in Madison County bearing that name.
Jackson, S. T. (2019, March 1). What’s in a name: the literal origin of richland township. The Herald Bulletin. Retrieved June 4, 2025, from https://www.heraldbulletin.com/community/what-s-in-a-name-the-literal-origin-of-richland-township/article_7a66463c-39d7-11e9-90b6-4f52c6d8b2fa.html.