Richland, IA

Richland is a small city in Keokuk County, set in the rolling farm country of southeastern Iowa. Its name goes back to the early settlement of the county: Richland was laid out in the years before Keokuk County's government was fully organized and became the place where the first county election was held in April 1844. A schoolhouse near Richland hosted the county's first school in 1842, and the town's academy later drew students from across the county, at one point enrolling over 200. For a little Iowa place, that is a surprisingly substantial educational footprint.

ATTRKen Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0

Richland's schools have changed with the community. The former local elementary and secondary school, built in the 1920s, joined the Pekin Community School System in 1959 after a debate that stirred plenty of local feeling. Today Richland children are part of the Pekin district, while the city remains a compact center among the county's fields and country roads. The population was 542 in 2020. Richland feels like an early county crossroads that kept its own identity after the courthouse, bigger schools, and larger services settled elsewhere.