Farmhouses of Richfield is a series of geocaches intended to highlight several old farmhouses still standing in Richfield. These farmhouses were all built between 1852 and 1918 by settlers who migrated to MN because land was affordable and fertile. Please take time to look at these impressive houses that have stood for over a century.
The Congress of the United States passed an Act in 1852 which greatly reduced the size of the Fort Snelling Military Reservation. In that year, Riley Lucas Bartholomew came to Minnesota and filed a claim on the shores of Wood Lake. Here he pitched a tent and proceeded to build the two-story section of the house making ready for his wife, Fanny, and his children to follow from Wisconsin in the spring of 1853. Soon after building the house, two single story additions were moved from near Minnehaha Falls as finished buildings and joined to the original house.
Bartholomew quickly became active in the local affairs of his new home. He was Justice of the Peace and a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed the Minnesota State Constitution in 1857. He also represented District Four in the State Senate.
Active in the Richfield Methodist Church, Bartholomew also helped build the first community schoolhouse, with his brother-in-law, Cincinnatus Gregory. The year was 1854 and the school was Wood Lake School, located at 66th and Dupont Avenue. The original log schoolhouse served as the Richfield City Hall until 1874.
After the death of Riley Bartholomew in 1894, his son, Winfield, lived on the homestead. Descendants lived in the house and farmed the land until 1962 when the Richfield school board purchased the land and buildings for future use.
The Richfield Historical Society began with efforts in 1967 by members of the Minnesota Valley Women's Club to preserve and protect the Bartholomew House for future generations. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1979 and is listed on the Minnesota Register of Historic Sites