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1historic place on the registers
History of Richmond Hill · Canada’s heritage registers

Richmond Hill: 1 historic place, with the highest designation

Richmond Hill’s one place is David Dunlap Observatory, a national historic site begun in 1866. Its housing is mostly newer: 5% predates 1961, where the typical town has 18%. Measured against its size, Richmond Hill’s 0 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 71% of Canadian towns.

1highest designation1866oldest building
Historic places
1
0 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1866
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
5%
typical town: 18%
Through time

1872–1914: Richmond Hill in old pictures

Here in time order: 8 old photographs of the town. A tap on any picture opens it with its credit.

Public notice of qualified electors of the Village of Richmond Hillc. 1872
Confederation to 1900Public notice of qualified electors of the Village of Richmond HillPhoto: M. Teefy · Public domain
Postcard of Richmond Hill Public School in Richmond Hill, Ontario, 19081908
Boom yearsPostcard of Richmond Hill Public School in Richmond Hill, Ontario, 1908Photo: Valentine & Sons Publishing Co · Public domain
1910s postcard of streetcar on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill1910s
Boom years1910s postcard of streetcar on Yonge Street in Richmond HillPublic domain
Cook's Hotel, Langstaff Road1910
Boom yearsCook's Hotel, Langstaff RoadPhoto: Bernard Joseph Gloster · Public domain
Postcard of a high school in Richmond Hill, circa 1910c. 1910
Boom yearsPostcard of a high school in Richmond Hill, circa 1910Photo: A.J. Lahmer (Vellore, Ontario) · Public domain
Richmond Hill Station1911
Boom yearsRichmond Hill StationPhoto: James Victor Salmon · Public domain
Postcard of streetcar on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, looking south, 1910s1910–1915
Boom yearsPostcard of streetcar on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, looking south, 1910sPhoto: A. J. Lahmer (Vellore, Ontario) · Public domain
Standard Bank on Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, circa 1910s1910–1919
The wars and betweenStandard Bank on Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, circa 1910sPublic domain

Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.

How it began

Richmond Hill’s first recorded year: 1873

The name of Richmond Hill honours The Lass of Richmond Hill, folk song. By 1906 the place had a station: Richmond Hill railway station. Wikidata holds January 1, 1873 as the start of the municipality of Richmond Hill, a date that can just as well be an incorporation.

How it began: Wikidata (CC0).

The map

Where Richmond Hill’s history is

Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.

The 1, by tier
1 Highest designations

What the map shows is the open record: the federal directory in full, and from provincial or municipal lists only the places Wikidata ties to an encyclopedia article.

Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.

Highest designations

One place in Richmond Hill with the highest designation

National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.

Around the town

Top-ranked heritage near Richmond Hill: 13 places within 25 km

24 places lie within 25 km. Oldest of them is Sharon Temple (1825), 24 km off. The mix: 13 National Historic Sites, 5 heritage railway stations and 5 provincial or municipal listings.

The 12 nearest, within 25 km

Former Canadian National Railway Station, Maple, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1903–1904 · 6.4 km away, in Hope
Canadian National Railway Station, Unionville, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1871–1872 · 10 km away, in Unionville
Aurora Radial Railway Bridge AbutmentDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1899 · 11 km away, in Aurora
Canadian National Railway Station, Aurora, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1900–1901 · 13 km away, in Aurora
Hillary HouseNational Historic Site · 1861–1863 · 13 km away, in Aurora
Former Canadian National Railway Station, Markham, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1871–1872 · 14 km away, in Markham Village
Markham Village Town HallDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1881 · 14 km away, in Markham Village
Old Newmarket Town Hall and CourthouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1883 · 19 km away, in Newmarket
Former Canadian National Railway Station, Newmarket, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1900–1901 · 19 km away, in Newmarket
Montgomery's TavernNational Historic Site · 1837 · 20 km away, in Yonge-Eglinton
Eglinton TheatreNational Historic Site · 1935–1937 · 20 km away, in Lawrence Park South
Mount Pleasant CemeteryNational Historic Site · 1873 · 21 km away, in Mount Pleasant East
Homes by age

Richmond Hill is still building: 8.8% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%

Few of Richmond Hill’s homes date from 1961 to 1980: 10%, the norm 27%. Richmond Hill has an unusual share of homes built from 2001 to 2015: 36%, where most towns have 15%. The busiest building years in Richmond Hill were from 1981 to 2000, which account for 41% of today’s homes.

5%
Before 1961
10%
1961–80
41%
1981–2000
36%
2001–15
8.8%
2016–21
Richmond HillTypical town

2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.

Neighbours

Richmond Hill and its neighbours

TownPeoplePlacesHighestOldest
Richmond Hill222,031111866
Upper Thornhill Estates10,43500—
The Valleys of Thornhill9,97900—
Cathedraltown11,02900—
Thornhill Woods13,23700—
Hope6,997101903
Carrville Corners13,00400—
In brief

Richmond Hill in brief

Canada’s heritage lists give Richmond Hill 1 historic place, one with the highest designation, David Dunlap Observatory among them. Its homes are mostly newer: 5% were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it has one historic place, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 2); its past has lives on the record such as Merlyn Phillips (1896) and James MacCallum (1860); and its designation dates from 2019.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
  • The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
  • The federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
  • The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
  • Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
  • Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.

Questions about Richmond Hill’s history

Which places in Richmond Hill have the highest designation?

It is David Dunlap Observatory.

How old are the homes in Richmond Hill?

Before 1961: 5% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.

What is the oldest building in Richmond Hill?

David Dunlap Observatory — its record dates it to 1866 (National Historic Site).

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).

Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).