Richland Center is a city in Richland County, Wisconsin, United States that afterward serves as the county seat. The population was 5,114 at the 2020 census.

Richland Center was founded in 1851 by Ira Sherwin Hazeltine, a indigenous of Andover, Vermont. Hazeltine was drawn to the site because of its abundant water power, fertile prairies, and its proximity to the geographical middle of Richland County. Hazeltine offered to donate home to the county if Richland Center was voted the county seat. In 1852 the Wisconsin Legislature formally acknowledged Richland Center as the chair of justice for Richland County. The present Richland County courthouse was built at Richland Center in 1889.

In 1876, a narrow gauge railroad branch similar Richland Center when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Lone Rock, Wisconsin, providing an outlet for the town’s commerce. The stock was originally constructed with maple rails, but it was rebuilt as a normal gauge iron railway in 1880. On October 8, 1882, the town’s railway depot was destroyed in the same way as an forward morning flame ignited two kegs of gunpowder stored inside, causing an explosion that tore the roof from the building and scorched several genial rail cars. Another passenger depot, built in 1909, still stands today, serving as a visitor middle for the community.

Richland Center became an important location for the women’s suffrage action in Wisconsin after Laura Briggs James, Julia Bowen, and extra residents founded the Richland Center Woman’s Club in to come 1882. The club quickly became the largest suffrage action in the make a clean breast and was influential in organizing the action throughout Wisconsin. Susan B. Anthony visited Richland Center in 1886. Later, Laura James’ daughter Ada James became influential in the movement, helping to found the Political Equality League in 1909 and advocating for women’s rights, pacifism, birth control, and prohibition. Locally, the women’s club was the driving force at the rear the construction of the Richland Center City Auditorium, which served as the city hall from 1913 to 1998.