Richmond is a town in

Washington County, Rhode Island Washington County, known locally as South County, is a county located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,839. Rhode Island counties have no governmental functions other than as court administrat ...

, United States. The population was 8,020 at the 2020 census. It contains the villages of Alton, Arcadia, Barberville, Carolina, Hillsdale, Kenyon, Shannock, Tug Hollow, Usquepaug, Wood River Junction, Woodville, and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. Students from the Town of Richmond are part of the Chariho Regional School District, a school district shared between Charlestown and Hopkinton, Rhode Island.

History

The Town of Richmond was originally part of the territory of

Westerly, Rhode Island Westerly is a New England town, town on the Coast, southwestern coastline of Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661, and incorporated as a List of municipalitie ...

(1669 to 1747), which remained in dispute for several years among the

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...

Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...

, and

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

. In 1665, King Charles II dissolved the charters of those three colonies and renamed the disputed area "King’s County". In May 1669, the General Assembly of Rhode Island organized King's County into the town of Westerly, and the town of Westerly organized itself into four separate areas: Westerly, Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton. On April 19, 1873, there was a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch, which today is known as Wood River Junction. A passenger train approached, unaware of the bridge washout, and ran off the tracks and into the water. Eleven people died; others were swept downstream and were unaccounted for. The Washington County Fair is the largest fair in the state and has been held in Richmond since 1970. Charles II in 1665 did not dissolve the charters of Rhode Island, Connecticut or Massachusetts Bay Colony (though the last would have its charter revoked in 1684 and both Rhode Island and Connecticut would temporarily become nothing more than counties in the newly created Dominion of New England, 1686–1689). The Royal Commissioners of 1664-1665 renamed what was known as the Narragansett Country the King's province and placed authority over this area with Rhode Island and which then created King's County for this area and that was renamed Washington County during the Revolutionary period.

Geography

Richmond is south of the state's capital, Providence. It is a mostly

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

ed, landlocked community According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Richmond borders Charlestown to the south,

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

to the north and northeast, Hopkinton to the west, and South Kingstown to the southeast. Richmond is the only town in Washington County that does not border another county or the ocean. A tract in Richmond is owned by the state and managed for wildlife food and

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

as the Carolina Management Area. The Carolina Management Area is primarily forest (), but also includes

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and agricultural land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 8,020 people and 2,965 households in the town. The population density was . There were 3,173 housing units in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 91.96%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.55%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.55% Native American, 0.90% Asian, 0.87% from other races, and 5.14% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population. There were 2,965 households, out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 13.9% had a male householder with no spouse present. 9.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.09. In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 32.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. The median income for a household in the town was $118,924, and the median income for a family was $134,571. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $53,420. About 2.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 0% of those under age 18 and 0.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The town government is directed by a five-member town council that is headed by a council president at the Richmond Town Hall. For the purpose of school administration, Richmond is a member town of the Chariho Regional School District with the neighboring towns of Charlestown and Hopkinton. Richmond is represented in the Rhode Island State Senate by Elaine Morgan and in the

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is ...

by Megan Cotter. In May 2007, Richmond voters approved a referendum to create a Home Rule Charter Commission. The Charter Commission subsequently created a Richmond Home Rule Charter, and the Town Council unanimously approved its placement on the November 2008 ballot. Richmond voters approved the Charter by a 70%–30% margin. The

Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...

gave their approval on May 20, 2009, and the Charter took effect on May 28, 2009, when Governor Donald Carcieri allowed it to become law without his signature. The Charter retains many features of the prior government: the five-member town council headed by a council president; an elected town clerk; and a Finance Board and an annual Financial Town Meeting. The major changes included four-year terms for the town councilors instead of two years, effective in November 2010, and the creation of a Town Administrator who reports directly to the town council.Richmond Home Rule Charter
Town of Richmond, Rhode Island, website. Retrieved December 30, 2009)

Politics

Richmond leans Republican at the local level. It voted for Republicans Allan Fung for governor in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and Ashley Kalus in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. It is represented by Republican Elaine J. Morgan in the Rhode Island Senate and Democrat Megan Cotter in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Its town council is controlled by Republicans. However, Richmond leans more Democratic in federal elections. It voted for Democratic Senators

Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2007 as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1993 to 1998 as the United States Att ...

and Jack Reed in

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, respectively. Richmond has voted for Democratic presidential nominees since 1988, with the exception of

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, when Donald Trump won the town by 8%.

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

flipped the town back for the Democratic Party in

by three votes. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, the town voted for Donald Trump once again.

Notable people

* Billy Gilman (born 1988), country artist and runner-up of Season 11 of '' The Voice''. Gilman is from the village of Hope Valley and is often mistaken as being from Hopkinton because most of the village is located in that town * Thomas A. Tefft (1826–1859), architect *

Frank J. Williams Frank J. Williams (born August 24, 1940) is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a notable Abraham Lincoln scholar and author, and a justice of the Military Commission Review Panel. Biography Frank Williams was born ...

(born 1940), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island (2001–2009)

National Register of Historic Places listings

* Carolina Village Historic District * John Hoxsie House * Shannock Historic District * Wyoming Village Historic District

Adjacent Towns

References

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in Washington County, Rhode Island Towns in Rhode Island Providence metropolitan area 1747 establishments in Rhode Island