Centered on the junction of Main and River Streets are a cluster of mainly brick buildings, built between 1880 and 1920, with several industrial properties just across the Missisquoi River to the south, whose waters provided the power for the industries that fueled the town's growth.

[1] The northern Vermont town of Richford developed in the late 1790s around a series of falls on the upper Missisquoi River, where its early settlers built sawmills and gristmills.

In the 1850s it developed as a regional commercial and industrial center, spurred by tariff reductions for trade with neighboring Quebec, which brought a market for area goods and an influx of French-speaking immigrants.

From the junction of Main and River Streets, brick commercial buildings extend east and west on the south side of River Street, and on the north side west of the junction.

South of the river, on the west side of Main Street, stand two industrial buildings, built in 1908 out of concrete blocks by the Sweat-Comings Company, and the adjacent fire station, built by town but also out of concrete blocks.