History
Though burials were made onsite as early as 1846, Richview wasn’t officially a graveyard until the Union Chapel was completed, around 1853. According to
a historical plaque, farmer William Knaggs (who is buried at Richview) sold the land that became the cemetery for use as “a chapel and lot without belonging to any particular church or denomination, to be respectively devoted exclusively to religious purposes in the discretion of certain trustees.” The church, which evolved into Richview United Church, moved south of the cemetery in 1888 and remained there until the nearby stretch of Highway 27 was converted into an expressway during the 1950s.
While the church
relocated west of the future Highway 427, cemetery trustees resisted calls to move the graveyard, which led to its odd present-day positioning. The site was filled out with even more remains during the 1970s, as graves were moved from two other former Etobicoke cemeteries: Willow Grove Burying Ground (which was located at Kipling Avenue and Rexdale Boulevard) and McFarlane Family Burying Ground.
Around 300 people are estimated to be buried in Richview, of which only 90 have markers. Only descendants of those resting there can buy plots. The most recent burial was
Victor Kimber, who maintained the grounds for over 40 years before he died in 2005.
