John Ritchie (July 17, 1817 - August 31, 1887) was an abolitionist who moved from Ohio to Kansas in search of cheap land and who engaged in various acts opposing the expansion of slavery in the Kansas Territory. He was selected to particate in two of the four Kansas constitutional conventions: Leavenworth (1858) and Wyandotte (1859). In January 1859, Ritchie helped John Brown and eleven slaves elude federal troops and escape to Nebraska.

Ritchie purchased 160 acres of land in Topeka, Kansas in 1959 that eventually became known as "Ritchie's Addition". After the Civil War a number of newly freed African Americans settled in Topeka and built homes on this land. Because of the sizable African American population, the Topeka School District decided to establish a school for black children in the neighborhood. "Ritchie's Addition" became the site of Monroe School, which became the Kansas school at the center of the fight against segregated public schools in Brown v. Board of Education.

In later life, Ritchie donated land in Topeka to establish Lincoln College, which eventually became Washburn University.