Richland School was established to educate the children of the Richland community in northern Travis County after many Germans settled the area and began farming during the 1860s. Early immigrant Franz Schmidt first offered his home, known as Brushy Knob, as a place for children to learn, and as the need for education grew, he donated one acre of his property for a school. In the late 1870s, a local committee proposed the name Richland in reference to the area’s rich Blackland soil, and in 1878 a one-room schoolhouse was built. Its first teacher was Catharine Schlittler, followed by several German-speaking minister-teachers. Dissatisfied with part-time instructors teaching in German, the community petitioned the state for funding for a full-time, English-speaking teacher, and the request was granted around the time the school was enlarged. In 1883, a larger schoolhouse was built on the site of the original building. In 1905, the community voted to expand the schoolhouse and add another teacher. A separate room for primary grades was built in 1920, and in 1927 the community again improved the grounds by constructing a modern three-room schoolhouse, moving the original 1883 building off-site, demolishing the 1905 addition, and converting the 1920 structure into a clubhouse. Although Travis County officials decided in 1936 to consolidate smaller community schools at Pflugerville, Richland School remained independent until 1945, when it was absorbed by Pflugerville ISD. At the time of its closing, it had nine grades, three classrooms, and three teachers, and its buildings were moved off-site and repurposed.