From 1854 to 1858, Richey was rector of St. Luke's, Catskill, an important early American Tractarian parish center. He was then called to the rectorship of Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, where he served from 1858 to 1862. Between 1864 and 1869, he was the second dean of St. Stephen's College, Annandale on Hudson, now known as Bard College, and from 1863 to 1867 as the rector of Saint James Church, Fordham, in the Bronx.Among the Elms of Fordham: The Sesquicentennial Gazette, 2003, p. 8. From 1869 to 1879, Richey was professor of ecclesiastical history at the former Seabury Divinity School in Faribault, Minnesota. In 1879 he was appointed St. Mark's Church in the Bowery Professor of Church History at his alma mater, the General Theological Seminary, and he served in this capacity until 1902. The New-York Tribune's obituary identified Richey as "the most popular and beloved professor in the seminary." The seminary's board of trustees requested his resignation on the grounds of infirmity in 1902; Richey declined the offer of a pension and insisted on retirement at half salary with status as professor emeritus.
