Richmond Hill | ||
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Town (lower-tier) | ||
Town of Richmond Hill Office at Highway 7 & East Beaver Creek Road
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Motto: Official: En la rose, je fleuris (French for "Like the rose, I flourish") Unofficial: A little north, a little nicer |
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Location of Richmond Hill within York Region. |
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Location of Richmond Hill within York Region. | ||
Coordinates: 43°52′N 79°26′W / 43.867°N 79.433°WCoordinates: 43°52′N 79°26′W / 43.867°N 79.433°W | ||
Country | Canada | |
Province | Ontario | |
Regional municipality | York Region | |
Incorporated | January 1, 1873 (village) | |
Incorporated | 1957 (town) | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | Dave Barrow | |
• Regional Councillors | Vito Spatafora, Brenda Hogg | |
• Governing Body | Richmond Hill Town Council | |
• MPs |
Leona Alleslev (Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, Ontario), Majid Jowhari (Richmond Hill proper) |
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• MPPs |
Helena Jaczek (Oak Ridges only), Reza Moridi (Richmond Hill proper) |
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Area | ||
• Total | 101.11 km2 (39.04 sq mi) | |
Elevation | 233 m (764 ft) | |
Population (2016) | ||
• Total | 195,022 (Ranked 26th) | |
• Density | 1,928.8/km2 (4,996/sq mi) | |
Demonym(s) | Richmond Hiller | |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
• Summer (DST) | Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4) | |
Forward sortation area | L4B, L4C, L4E, L4S | |
Area code(s) | 905/289 | |
Website | www.richmondhill.ca | |
Twinned with Shijiazhuang, China and Netanya, Israel, Sister Cities with, Lakeland, Florida |
Richmond Hill (2016 population 195,022) is a town in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 28th most populous municipality in Canada. It is also Canada's most populous town.
Richmond Hill has in recent years seen a huge population upsurge, being Canada's fastest-growing community in the 1990s. It is an affluent town with a large number of people employed in business, finance, industry and healthcare. The town is home to the world-renowned David Dunlap Observatory telescope, at one time the second largest telescope in the world, and still the largest in Canada.
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 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) to 27,000 acres (110 km2) and the population from a little over 19,000 to some 34,000. 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.