Trails to the Past of North Dakota is excepting any donations of genealogy materials that you may have such as marriage announcements, news articles, old obituaries, births, (you do not need the birth certificate) just the information, and biographies.  If you have any of these items please contact me Marie Miller the North Dakota State Administrator.

Richland County was created by the 1872-73 territorial legislature and named for Morgan T. Rich of Wahpeton, who settled on the site of the future city in 1869. County government was organized on November 25, 1873.

Brandenburg Township was first settled in the mid-1870s by German immigrants, who originally named it Berlin.

The original name came from George Worner (1855 - 1950), an early settler, who in 1875 established a rural post office on his homestead, and named it Berlin in honor of Berlin, Germany. Worner was born in Germany, and his family emigrated to the United States, settling in Wisconsin before moving to Dakota Territory around 1874. The Berlin post office was later moved in 1882 to a site near present day Great Bend, North Dakota, and was closed permanently on July 12, 1883. Part of Great Bend was platted on Worner's homestead, and he instrumental in the city's development. Worner later served as county commissioner and in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1925 to 1932.

The township had been renamed Brandenburg by the time the 1890 Census was conducted. It reached a peak population of 552 people in 1900. Much of that population was absorbed into the city of Great Bend when it was incorporated in 1908 and became independent of the township.

The cities of Richland County are Abercrombie, Barney, Christine, Colfax, Dwight, Fairmount, Great Bend, Hankinson, Lidgerwood, Mantador, Mooreton, Wahpeton, Walcott, and Wyndmere.  Wahpeton is the County Seat.

Townships of Richland County

On Line Data

Adjacent counties

Cass County (north)
Wilkin County, Minnesota (east)
Traverse County, Minnesota (southeast)
Roberts County, South Dakota (south)
Sargent County (west)
Ransom County(west)

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