A Post Office and a Name on the Map

James Sinclair assumed his duties as Richmond Hill's first postmaster on January 6, 1836. He marked outgoing mail with red ink if prepaid, black ink if not. Four and a half pence took a letter to Toronto; one shilling, one and a half pence to Montreal; two shillings nine and a half pence to Halifax. Sinclair sent his outgoing mail and received his incoming mail from Charles Thompson's Yonge Street stagecoach line - once a day to and from Toronto and once a day to and from the north.

The establishment of a post office was most significant in Richmond Hill's evolution from pioneer hamlet to settled village. Now the community had an officially recognized, government-approved name, which could be spread through the postal systems of British North America and the wider world beyond. Richmond Hill was on the map.