The Town of Richmond Hill started out as a petite settlement located partially in the Township of Vaughan and somewhat in the Township of Markham. The Town's advancement was closely linked with the expansion of Yonge Street, which was planned primarily as a military road by John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada.

The Town was officially assimilated on June 18, 1872 as a village. Richmond Hill developed because of its vicinity to Toronto, as farmers came into town on their way to Toronto markets and people travelled up and down Yonge Street to and from communities further north.

Early in the twentieth century, a few large greenhouse operations were built in Richmond Hill, while rose growing turned the Town into the "rose capital" of Canada. In the 1920's, village council endorsed the motto of the Duke of Richmond, for whom the Town may have been named. A local artist and carriage painter, William Ashford Wright, constructed a town crest that included aspects of the Duke of Richmond's coat of arms and roses.

Over the years, Richmond Hill has remained an original community. Even during this time of most extensive growth to-date, Richmond Hill has gone on a community with a friendly, down-to-earth extract. That is why the Town's un-official motto is "A little north, a little nicer."