Richmond

Town Hall - 1529 State Road

Richmond, MA 01254 Phone (413) 698-3355/fax (413) 698-3272 www.richmondmass.org email: richadmin@rnetworx.com Statistics Population: 1,585 Registered Voters: 1,125 Democrats: 324 Republicans: 172 Other: 629 Tax Rate: $9.65 Assessed Town Value: $311,045,724 Average House Value: $318,931 Average Single-Family Tax Bill: $3,077 Town Administrator: Bruce Garlow Selectmen: Alan B. Hanson, (Chair), Roger W. Manzolini, Marguerite J. Rawson (Meetings are the 1st , 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall)

Background

Richmond is a small, rural community that is located in Central Berkshire County. Richmond's scenic beauty and rural ambience are enforced by progressive and strong zoning and wetland bylaws and by the Berkshire Scenic Mountains Act. The late Charles Kusik, a former longtime resident and Planning Board member, was the principal author of Richmond's first comprehensive zoning by law and he served as a consultant to the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. Many towns in the Berkshires adopted zoning bylaws based on models developed by Mr. Kusik and Richmond and the regional planning commission both offer annual planning awards named in his honor. Although the town hosted extensive iron mining operations up until 1923, Richmond now has few commercial enterprises beyond two farm stores, a farmer winery, an upholstery shop and several other farms and orchards.

Richmond residents express a strong sense of community with the town boasting its own civic association since 194, as well as a land trust and historical society. These three associations sponsor a picnic annually in September, among many other activities carried out individually by the associations.



Town Trivia

Richmond is now constructing its first sewer collection system which is scheduled to be complete by spring 2006.

Some of the iron used to construct the ironclad Civil War ship Monitor was mined in Richmond.

The Stevens Glen area in the southeast part of town contains hiking trails that can be accessed from a small parking area on Lenox Branch Road, near the Richmond/West Stockbridge line. In the late nineteenth century the glen was a popular picnic area with a pavilion that attracted families from surrounding communities.

Richmond consolidated five one-room schoolhouses in 1937 into a single consolidated school. The school, which educates students from Kindergarten though 8th Grade, is widely recognized for its excellent programs and has since gone through three renovations. The most recent one was four years ago at the cost of $6.2 million.