TopNational Historic Site · 1869–1870Fort Whoop-UpJunction of the St. Mary and Oldman riversPhoto: Fort Whoop Up Interpretive Society · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Fort Whoop-Up · Photo: Fort Whoop Up Interpretive Society · CC BY-SA 3.01historic place on the registers
History of Cardston County · Canada’s heritage registers
Cardston County’s 1 historic place is a top designation
Cardston County’s one place is Fort Whoop-Up, a national historic site begun in 1869. Relative to its size Cardston County has 2 per 10,000 residents, more than 86% of Canadian towns. 2 further listings on provincial or municipal registers are known only through Wikidata, so they have no page of their own.
Historic places
1
2 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1869
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
28%
typical town: 18%
Through time
Cardston County, long ago
One picture from before 1950: the oldest view of one of its historic places. It opens full screen with a tap.
1881Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
The map
Where Cardston County’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 1, by tier
1 Highest designations
The federal directory kept by Parks Canada supplies most of these places; provincial and municipal lists outside Québec aren’t open data, so only the ones Wikidata documents with an article appear.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
One place in Cardston County with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
4 places of the highest rank within 100 km of Cardston County
Within 100 km there are 11 in all. The mix: 6 provincial or municipal listings, 4 National Historic Sites and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Oldest of them is Fort Macleod (1874), 63 km off.
The 11 nearest, within 100 km
| Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsNational Historic Site · 1913–1924 · 9.1 km away, in Cardston |
| Raymond Buddhist ChurchProvincial historic resource · 49 km away, in Raymond |
| Raymond Community CentreProvincial historic resource · 49 km away, in Raymond |
| RCMP Detachment GarageRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1929 · 54 km away, in Pincher Creek No. 9 |
| Michelsen FarmsteadProvincial historic resource · 1912 · 59 km away, in Stirling |
| Stirling Agricultural VillageNational Historic Site · 1890 · 60 km away, in Stirling |
| Territorial Court HouseNational Historic Site · 1902–1905 · 62 km away, in Fort Macleod |
| Empress TheatreProvincial historic resource · 1912 · 62 km away, in Fort Macleod |
| Fort MacleodNational Historic Site · 1874–1875 · 63 km away, in Fort Macleod |
| Head-Smashed-In Buffalo JumpWorld Heritage Site · 70 km away, in Willow Creek No. 26 |
| Frank SlideProvincial historic resource · 98 km away, in Crowsnest Pass |
Homes by age
Old houses stand out in Cardston County: 28% predate 1961, where most towns have 18%
Half of the homes standing in Cardston County today were built before 2001. Cardston County has an unusual share of homes built from 2001 to 2015: 23%, where most towns have 15%. Few of Cardston County’s homes date from 1961 to 1980: 20%, the norm 27%.
28%
Before 1961
20%
1961–80
26%
1981–2000
23%
2001–15
3.9%
2016–21
Cardston CountyTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Cardston County has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 4,900 to 5,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Cardston County1
Ahead of it: Central Business District. The typical town its size has 0. 13 of them have none.
Neighbours
Cardston County and its neighbours
In brief
Cardston County in brief
Of the homes standing in Cardston County, 28% went up before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. In all there are 1 historic place, one with the highest designation, including Fort Whoop-Up. Just one town of its size, out of 16, has more historic places. The other figures are unremarkable: its past has lives on the record such as Harry R. Wellman (1899) and Alvin Bullock (1906); and its one place was designated in 1963.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Provincial and municipal listings here come from Wikidata alone, since the provinces’ own registers can’t be reused; a listing needs an encyclopedia article to get a page.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
Questions about Cardston County’s history
Which places in Cardston County have the highest designation?
Just one: Fort Whoop-Up.
What is the oldest building in Cardston County?
Fort Whoop-Up — its record dates it to 1869 (National Historic Site).
How old are the homes in Cardston County?
28% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
Why might a heritage building in Cardston County be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 2 more listings in Cardston County, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).