Richmond Hill (2021 population: 202,022) is a Ontario city in the south-central Regional Municipality of York, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the twelfth most populous municipality in Ontario and the twenty-seventh most populous municipality in Canada. Richmond Hill is situated between the cities of Markham and Vaughan, north of Thornhill, and south of Aurora.

Richmond Hill has seen significant population growth since the 1990s. It became a city in 2019, after being a town since 1957. The city is home to the David Dunlap Observatory telescope, the largest in Canada.

History

The village of Richmond Hill was incorporated by a by-law of the York County Council on June 18, 1872, coming into effect January 1, 1873.; see also Archaeological Services, Inc., "Town of Richmond Hill Official Plan: Archaeological and First Nations Policy Study ," October 2009; "The Stage 4 Salvage Excavation of the Orion Site ," Dec. 2008. In September 1956, the Ontario Municipal Board approved its elevation to Town status, effective January 1, 1957.

The Regional Municipality of York was established by Bill 102 An Act to Establish the Regional Municipality of York of the provincial parliament, passed on June 26, 1970, and coming into force on January 1, 1971. The act expanded Richmond Hill's borders, annexing parts of Whitchurch Township, Markham Township, Vaughan Township and King Township into Richmond Hill, expanding the area covered from to and the population from a little over 19,000 to some 34,000. Historically the town was bounded along a narrow strip along Yonge Street from Lots 48 to 46 (about Crosby Avenue down to Major Mackenzie Drive), as far east as Church Street and slightly west of Mill Pond (excluding Lot 46 where it ended just north of Arnold Crescent or eastern end of today's Don Head Park). The town grew to encompass the communities of Gormley, Dollar, Langstaff, Carrville, Headford, Elgin Mills, Jefferson, Bond Lake, Temperanceville, Lake Wilcox, Oak Ridges and Richvale. While Richmond Hill was a prosperous, well developed town, many of the outlying areas annexed were far more rural, with dirt roads, no water mains or sewers and no streetlights, and the time needed to bring municipal services up in these areas, combined with residual unequal tax assessments caused considerable conflict in the municipal politics. Policing was taken over by the York Regional Police, but fire protection remained with Richmond Hill, whose firefighting force quickly grew. Having hired its first full-time employee in 1967, it had fourteen full-time employees by 1971.

Yonge Street through Richmond Hill expanded from two lanes to four in 1971, relieving congestion on what was known as "Ontario's worst stretch of highway".

The Richmond Hill Dynes Jewellers softball team was the 1972 Softball World Champions. The Royal Canadian Air Farce was recorded at the Curtain Club Theatre in Richmond Hill for its first 5 seasons on radio, beginning in 1973. The Air Farce returned for an anniversary recording in the 1990s. Also in 1973 was the centennial of the town's incorporation as a village, and the town set up a number of celebratory activities, including a beard growing contest, commissioning a centennial song, a parade, a street dance and the unveiling of a historic plaque honouring the town's founding in front of the municipal offices. June 27 was officially declared Russell Lynett Day, named after the town's clerk, only the third in its existence. 1973 also saw the sale of the last of the original rose-growing greenhouses in Richmond Hill. Development had led to increasing property taxes and the H.J. Mills greenhouses relocated to Bayview Avenue and Elgin Mill Road. The site of the greenhouses was developed as a subdivision. The fast-growing town set aside significant areas for parks, with five new parks dedicated in 1973, and two more in 1974. The Richmond Hill Historical Society was founded in 1973. The society was dedicated to preserving the history of Richmond Hill and raising awareness of the town's history. Their first action was to restore a 150-year-old house, known as the Burr House.

As the 1970s went on, the population growth of Richmond Hill remained large. In 1976, home prices in Richmond Hill were among the highest in Canada. By this time, the town council was split over whether to keep expanding rapidly. The deadlock over a fifty-five house subdivision named Springmills Estate led to one councillor saying that it was not the reform council it was dubbed, but a "deformed council". Other housing projects faced similar problems as councillors debated many things, including the need for affordable housing and the encroachment of homes into the farmland and the Oak Ridges Moraine.

GO train service was extended to Richmond Hill in 1978, officially opened on April 29, 1978, by Bill Davis.

Growth in Richmond Hill slowed towards the end of the 1970s, with M.L. McConaghy Public School closing in 1979 due to dropping enrolment. At the same time, Richmond Hill began to make official plans for future land development. The first official plan concerned a industrial park at Leslie Street and Highway 7 named Beaver Creek. A commercial area within the park spread into the hamlet of Dollar. The plan was rejected, however, by the Ontario Municipal Board, and Richmond Hill was the first municipality in Ontario to have its official plan rejected outright by the board. The whole affair was subject to much controversy in the community, although the town council eventually declined to appeal the decision.

When the new council convened in 1980, led by new mayor Al Duffy, the town remained without a development plan. The council hired civic planner Peter Walker to produce a new official plan. By September 1981, the new plan was drafted, with limited development of northern Richmond Hill, industrial development centred in the south-east part of town and commercial centres remaining along Yonge Street. The plan was approved in July 1982 by the Ontario Municipal Board.

A clash over the use of the land in Langstaff, known as the Langstaff Jail Farm erupted in 1982 between Richmond Hill and Toronto, which owned the land. The plot of land had been acquired by Toronto in 1911, and was unused in 1982. Toronto's plans for development clashed with those of Richmond Hill over the balance of industry and residential development, with Richmond Hill favouring more industrial development.

The rose business left Richmond Hill in June 1982, with the closure of H.J. Mills florists. Mills died in 1980, leaving the company to his son, but the poor economic conditions, combined with increasing property taxes in the growing city made the business unprofitable. A 1984 contest organized by The Liberal had readers submit entries for a new town slogan. The town council chose three of the submissions which residents then voted on, and "A little north, a little nicer" became Richmond Hill's new town slogan.

Richmond Hill's growth continued during the 1990s, fuelled in significant part by immigration, with many businesses opened on Highway 7 around Leslie Street serving the new Chinese Community that formed there. In the early 1990s, Statistics Canada named Richmond Hill as Canada's fastest-growing community.

On March 25, 2019, the Richmond Hill Council passed a motion to change the title of Richmond Hill from 'town' to 'city'.

Politics The city's motto is (French for "Like the rose, I flourish"), reflecting either the motto of the Duke of Richmond, or the fact that the city was a centre of rose-growing in the early 20th century. At that time, it was known as the "Rose Capital" of Canada. A more recent motto for Richmond Hill is A little north, a little nicer.

Richmond Hill is the only municipal Canadian government to have light pollution laws in place, due to the presence of the David Dunlap Observatory.

In June 2013, the city's council passed a by-law to ban the number 4 from new street numbers because it is considered to be bad luck in some East Asian cultures.

Governance

The city is governed by the Richmond Hill City Council, which operates on a Mayor-Council system with six Ward Councillors and two Regional Councillors, plus the Mayor. The council serves a four-year term, after which a new council is elected by qualified electors in Richmond Hill.

The council derives its authority primarily from the Municipal Act and the amendments of the Municipal Law Amendment Act, 2006. Richmond Hill is a Lower-tier municipality and has the roles and responsibilities of that position. The municipality has a wide purview relating to the interests of the municipality and its residents to develop and maintain policies, practices and procedures through the issuing of by-laws relating to highways, transportation systems apart from highways, waste management, public utilities, culture, parks, recreation and heritage, drainage and flood control, parking, animals, economic development and the licensing of business. The city is also responsible for maintaining its finances in order to provide relevant services and for maintaining an official plan to guide development.

Elections

Elections for municipal offices are held every four years in conjunction with other municipal elections in Ontario. Elected positions include mayor, regional and local councillors and ward councillors (for six different wards) on the Richmond Hill City Council, as well as trustees for the York Region District School Board, the York Catholic District School Board and for Conseilleres (school trustees) for the Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest and Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud. The mayor and regional and local councillors also serve on York Regional Council.

Culture

Arts

The Richmond Hill Public Library system has four library branches.

The Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts offers theatre productions, concerts, comedy, and other shows in a multi-purpose space that includes a 631-seat auditorium. The Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 2008, offers a variety of concerts throughout the year at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.

Housed in a restored cottage from the 1840s, the Richmond Hill Heritage Centre offers an exhibit of local history and has a number of educational programs.

Recreation

Richmond Hill has 167 parks, of which most are small urban parks, and of undeveloped natural area for recreation. The largest such park is Richmond Green Sports Centre and Park which includes several baseball diamonds, two ice skating rinks, a 300-person amphitheatre and a skateboard park.

The city also has a total of six public swimming pools, including an indoor wave pool. Each summer, the city features a concert series entitled "Concerts in the Park", each having a specific theme, such as children's music and "The Beach Boys" and are held at Mill Pond Park, with some Sunday concerts at Richmond Green Park.

The city is also home to the Richmond Hill Country Club, Summit Golf and Country Club, and the Bloomington Downs Golf Course.

Richmond Hill was awarded the National Communities in Bloom award in 2003, with a special mention about the city's floral displays.

In September 2009, Alias Grace Park was opened to honour Margaret Atwood's novel's depiction of the city in Upper Canada prior to John A. Macdonald becoming prime minister.

Sport clubs Richmond Hill Curling Club Richmond Hill Soccer Club

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Richmond Hill had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Richmond Hill has a sizeable Chinese community as well as a sizeable Iranian community.

The median age as of 2021 was 43.6, slightly higher than the Ontario median age of 41.6.

Language