Place:Oak Ridges, York, Ontario, Canada

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Oak Ridges is an unincorporated community of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, and has been part of the city since 1971. It forms the northern portion of the municipality's boundary, where it borders Aurora. Located about 20 km north of the northern border of Toronto and about 35 km from Downtown Toronto, it has a population of 18,520 (2016). The community developed around Lake Wilcox, the largest lake in the area, and has continued to expand slowly since its annexation by the Town (now City) of Richmond Hill. In the 1990s, Oak Ridges experienced moderate growth, which spurred environmental action by numerous organizations. Population has grown significantly as a result of development initiatives along Bayview Avenue. The Oak Ridges Community Center was built and completed in June 2012 to accommodate community demand.

It is located north of the main urban area of Richmond Hill (which begins just south of Lake Wilcox), east of King City, immediately south of Aurora, and west of Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Oak Ridges can sometimes be considered separate from Richmond Hill, given the differences in current and future development patterns and plans and a large natural area forming a physical separation between Oak Ridges and urban Richmond Hill.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Oak Ridges was established along Yonge Street in 1799 by Joseph Geneviève and a group of French Royalists, who were granted land to settle by the British government. They were also provided with rations and agricultural implements.^[1] It was originally named Windham in honour of Geneviève's friend William Windham, Secretary at War for Britain at the time. Geneviève soon departed to search for another site to settle, and by 1840 the settlement and the area from the King-Vaughan town line to the 15th sideroad became known as Oak Ridges.^[1] This included lots 61 to 70,^[1] the western half of which were in King, and the eastern half in the township of Whitchurch.

From 1896 until 1927, the Schomberg and Aurora Railway operated a rail service from Schomberg to Oak Ridges. The Oak Ridges station was located north of Bond Crescent on the west side of Yonge Street, and resulted in the community being split into Oak Ridges north of the station and Schomberg Junction south of the station. The latter name was discontinued sometime after the railway ceased operations. Remnants of the old Bond Lake Station can be seen around the lake. The former Bond Lake Park and Bond Lake Hotel also once stood along the shores of the lake.

Oak Ridges was annexed from King and Whitchurch by the Town of Richmond Hill in 1971 when York County was reconstructed into the Regional Municipality of York. Oak Ridges had been in steep decline in the 1960s, largely due to high unemployment, lack of commercial development and motorcycle gang activity, specifically around Lake Wilcox. However, in recent decades, suburbanization stimulated growth in the community, after being annexed by Richmond Hill.

Oak Ridges was the site of the first methadone clinic in Ontario; it opened in 1995, but has since moved to Newmarket, due to lack of patronage and local support.

Until 2008, Oak Ridges cable provider was Aurora Cable Internet (ACI), an independent service provider exclusive to Aurora and Oak Ridges. In 2008, ACI was purchased by Rogers Cable, who now provide cable and internet services to the area.

Oak Ridges was also the home of a "Junior B" hockey team, the Oak Ridges Dynes, playing out of the now torn down old Oak Ridges Community Centre. The team was active from 1976-1981, winning the Mid Ontario Junior B Hockey League in the 1976-1977 and 1977-1978 seasons.

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