Postwar Growth
A new six hundred person movie theatre opened in Richmond Hill in 1948, named The Richmond. The same year a drastic shortage of hydroelectric power in Ontario forced the rationing of power to municipalities. The North Yonge railways consumed huge amounts of power, so the trains were temporarily replaced with diesel-burning buses, starting October 10, 1948. Although a local outcry arose over the buses, once in operation they proved popular and profitable, with ridership in the first quarter of 1949 up 128 000 riders over the previous year. A vote in September 1949 did away with the old railway, which was sold off. Richmond Hill's first catholic school opened in 1948, adjacent to St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Some sixty students were in attendance during its first year of operation.
The Richmond Hill Business Men's Association was formed, and held its first meeting in February 1950. The village grew fast through the 1950s. On January 1, 1953 Richmond Hill annexed some 1,000 acres (4 km2) of land from Markham Township, tripling the village's size, and increasing the population from 2300 to 3300. The village's new boundaries extended to Bayview Avenue in the east, Elgin Mills Road in the north and Harding Boulevard in the south. In 1954, the village council took an important step towards Richmond Hill's growth. The council approved the construction of subdivisions, in which the homebuilder would be responsible for paving roads, providing sewage and water hookups and paying the municipality $300 towards to construction of new schools for each home built. This enable the rapid building of new homes. In the summer and fall of 1954, four new subdivisions were built in Richmond Hill, at Richmond Acres, Pleasantville, Tyndall and Glenbrae. This growth triggered the construction of a new municipal structure, and the establishment of a separate police force for Richmond Hill. During the 1950s, some five new elementary schools opened in Richmond Hill in response to the population growth.
Richmond Hill annexed a second parcel of land in 1956, 35 acres (140,000 m2) of Vaughan Township covering Richmond Heights. Richmond Hill was incorporated as a town on January 1, 1957. 1957 also saw the opening of Richmond Hill's first radio station, CJRH. In 1958, a branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses was set up in Richmond Hill to provide home nursing service. The same year the Richmond Hill Senior Citizen's Club was formed. An additional 30 acres (120,000 m2) of Vaughan Township, just north of Richmond Heights, were annexed in February 1959.
Read more about this topic: History Of Richmond Hill, Ontario
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