Rich Hill Township

Rich Hill Township, on the eastern edge of Muskingum County was, like Blue Rock Township, formed from Salt Creek Township. Salt Creek's commissioners ordered the creation of the new township on March 8, 1815. The name of the new township is attributed to an early settler, John Reynolds, who observed the area was "so rich and hilly."

The first settlers in the area, according to the Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, were ____ Lawrence and his stepson, Leonard Stichler. They arrived from Germany in 1805. Stichler is credited with erecting the first log home in the area. Several settlers from Pennsylvania--Lewis Pierce, John Moore, William Robinson, John and Neal McNaughton, and Abraham Warne --arrived with their families the following year. 

Rich Hill was and still is a sparsely settled (just 539 residents in 2020) agricultural area. Abraham
Warne established the first orchard, and introduced the moldboard (or mouldboard) plow, a device for lifting and turning the soil that's well suited to hilly areas.* Merino sheep were brought to the township in the early part of its history, and for a time Merino wool was Rich Hill's primary export.

Thomas Jefferson's mouldboard plow

Miles Conway Moore

The township's first school was established in 1815. The first gristmill was built along Salt Creek in 1818. Abraham Warne built the first sawmill in 1824. Between 1813-1826, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches were built. Two roads came through Rich Hill between 1807-1810. The first was the road connecting Zanesville and Marietta. The second, smaller road, connected Chandlersville and Cambridge.

Rix Mills is the township's only population center. It was named for Edmond Rix, who owned a local mill. Originally called Rixville, the village was platted in 1854.  A post office called Rixs Mills was established there in 1846. Renamed Rix Mills Post Office in 1892, it was permanently closed in 1902. A native of Rix Mills, Miles Conway Moore (born 1845), was appointed the 14th and last Territorial Governor of the Washington Territory by President Benjamin Harrison on April 9,1889. He served until Washington became a State on November 11, 1889. A few stores and a church constitute Rix Mills today. 

Rix Mills Presbyterian Church

*Versions of the moldboard plow have existed since antiquity, but Thomas Jefferson revolutionized the design and created a light-weight iron plow that could be pulled by one horse or mule.