Join us for the much-anticipated official release of Richfield: Minnesota's Oldest Suburb. Author Frederick Johnson will be on hand to sign copies of the book. The book explores the history of Richfield from early settlement days to the present. The well-researched text combines with a wealth of photographs to tell the many exciting stories that make up Richfield's history. This engaging local history book has a wider appeal due to Richfield's contributions to the history of the state and its role of a model post war suburban community. The book release party will coincide with the opening of Then and Now: Photographs of Richfield, the new exhibit at the Richfield History Center.

The book release party begins at 6:30pm Monday, May 12th at the Richfield History Center, 6901 Lyndale Avenue South. Call 612-798-6140 with questions.

In honor of the centennial anniversary of Richfield becoming a village and the sesquicentennial of it becoming a town, the Richfield Historical Society's new exhibit examines through photographs how a variety of sites in town looked in the past and how they look today. The historic pictures come from the historical society's collection. They represent a variety of time periods including the 1800s, 1920s and 1950s. Photographer Trevor Saylor took modern photographs of the same location often finding that the spot had greatly changed. Other changes were subtler. The sites chosen are from all over present day Richfield and a few are located in places that used to be a part of Richfield.

The exhibit opening begins at 6:30pm at the Richfield History Center on Monday, May 12th. This year's exhibit opening will feature a special addition. The official book release party and author signing of the new history book Richfield: Minnesota's Oldest Suburb will be held in conjunction with the exhibit opening. Join us for a wonderful evening of exploring Richfield's past.

This year's volunteer of the year wears many hats at the Richfield Historical Society. David Butler first became involved at the Richfield Historical Society when he was asked to join the Board of Directors in 2003. Since that time he has dedicated countless hours to making the Society a more visible and sustainable part of Richfield.

David is perhaps best known for his successful fundraising efforts that helped us to restore the Bartholomew House exterior, create the Richfield History Center, write the Richfield history book and keep our doors open throughout all of these large projects. His fundraising ability has enabled the society to dream big dreams and achieve them. Fundraising is not the only talent he contributes. David has an avid interest in history and has put many hours of research and fact checking to the history book and expanding our research files. He serves as the board secretary and on committees including the book, maintenance, finance and executive committees

City of Richfield and Richfield Public School employees donated their time to assist us in installing our flagpole on the north side of the Richfield History Center. In addition Brad Rynerson of Rynerson Electric installed lighting to spotlight the flag and repaired the exterior lights leading up to the Bartholomew House Museum. Thank you to everyone who helped us to install the flagpole and lighting!