In the year 1816, the year our township was organized, a little group of pioneers gathered from all the countryside in the newly erected log schoolhouse which stood in the clearing a quarter-mile Southwest of the crossroads at East Richfield. The schoolhouse was the only public building in the town at the time, and besides a school it served as church, town hall, social hall, and at times a jail. For five years previous, open-air religious services had been held in the same grove. 

    The four missionaries who served then were Rev. J. Treat, Rev. John Steward, Rev. Wm. Hanford, and Israel Shailor.  Rev. Shailor became our first resident pastor in 1821.  In 1832 the first proper church building was completed on the Southwest corner of East Richfield.  It was only the third church building built in the Western Reserve at the time.  The bell that was installed at the time is the same bell that hangs in our current bell tower. 

    In 1840 abolitionist John Brown moved to Richfield from Hudson and joined our church.  While in Richfield, four of John Brown’s children died of diphtheria within weeks of each other, and are interred in the East Richfield cemetery. 

    On Sunday morning, April 3, 1886, a stunned and silent congregation gathered around the smoking embers of was the night before their beloved sanctuary.  The molten scraps of the bell were gathered up and sent to the original casting company in Philadelphia, and reset in the new church building built on the same site in the short span of seven months. That building served our congregation faithfully for many years, seeing missionaries sent form its doors, and many a good service and meal occur there.  But in 1950, after an inspection of the well-worn building, it was condemned as unsafe for use.  The building was abandoned and services were held in old town hall. 

    After prayerful planning and untold meetings, a campaign was begun to raise $95,000 for the construction of a new building.  The new building, our current sanctuary, located at 4340 W. Streetsboro Road was dedicated Sunday, May 24, 1953.  Our beloved bell was moved to our new location and still rings faithfully.  The education wing was added in 1959 to accommodate the ever-increasing numbers.  That wing now also houses Hobbitts Preschool. 

    In 1974 Richfield U.C.C. completed construction of a small retirement village consisting of 14 units on its property, after seeing a need for retirement housing in the community. 

    Always welcoming and community oriented, ever respectful of others needs and beliefs, constantly struggling with being one in Christ, Richfield U.C.C. has a long history of faithful service, continues in that service today, and looks forward to an ever-changing future in the community, and in the service of our Lord and Savior.