Richland developed after the Houston and Texas Central Railroad bypassed older villages, and an early store was moved there from Pisgah Ridge, five miles west, by J.T. and Prudence Anderson Patrick, who settled in Richland in 1870. They had three sons, Walter, Jim, and Arthur, and one daughter, Willie. The first need for a burial ground came in 1895 with the death of Mrs. Willie Patrick Brown, wife of Dr. A.N. Brown. One acre for burials was given by the estate of William Marsh Rice, an investor in the H. and T.C. and owner of much land on the line. A few years later, two adjacent acres were bought from the Rice heirs, and still later, three more acres were bought from Mmes. Eva Swink and Jewel Weaver. Early trustees included Horace Ballew, Dr. A.N. Brown, Shelton Brown, T.B. Skipper, Henry Swink, Fred Tucker, and Clint and Dick Williams. For years, maintenance was carried out in an annual All-Day Working. In 1935, the Richland Cemetery Association was formed, with Mrs. Dora Anderson as president and Mrs. Gordon Elkins as secretary-treasurer, and the association later made many improvements. The cemetery contains veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, along with members of many of Navarro County's founding families.