Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1953–1954Hangar 24 Wing Cold Lake
Photo: Wolfmum · CC BY-SA 4.06historic places on the registers
History of Cold Lake · Canada’s heritage registers
Cold Lake’s past, on the record: 6 historic places
Few towns have as much for their size as Cold Lake: 3.4 for every 10,000 residents, more than 91% of Canadian towns. Go back to 1953 and you reach Hangar 2, the oldest of them. For the municipality itself, Wikidata has December 31, 1953, which can be an incorporation or a merger rather than a founding. On the list: 6 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings.
Historic places
6
3.4 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
6
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Oldest building
1953
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
9.7%
typical town: 18%
The map
Where Cold Lake’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Other federal designations
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 6, by tier
6 Other federal designations
Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists the places the Government of Canada has recognized; outside Québec, provincial and municipal listings come only through Wikidata, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.
Other federal designations
Federal heritage in Cold Lake: 6 more places
Designations came from 2000 to 2006. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. They date from 1953 (Hangar 2) to 1957. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1953–1954Hangar 3
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1954–1955Hangar 14 Wing Cold Lake
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1954–1955Hangar 44 Wing Cold Lake
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1954–1955Senior Non Commissioned Officer's Building B-30
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1957–1958MacKenzie SchoolBuilding 83, Hickory Street
What’s designated
33% of Cold Lake’s historic places are public buildings
The first by rank are Hangar 2 and Hangar 3.
Public buildings2
Forts and military buildings1
Other places3
The groups come from each place’s name and its recorded functions, by what it was built as.
Homes by age
Cold Lake’s homes are mostly newer: 9.7% predate 1961, where most towns have 18%
Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 37% of Cold Lake’s, against 15% in the typical town. From 2016 on, Cold Lake built 5.6% of its homes; the typical town built 4.1%. Only 21% of Cold Lake’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%.
9.7%
Before 1961
21%
1961–80
26%
1981–2000
37%
2001–15
5.6%
2016–21
Cold LakeTypical 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
Cold Lake has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 17,600 to 17,900 residents, by places on the registers.
Cold Lake6
Their median is 0. 13 of them have none.
In brief
Cold Lake in brief
All told, Cold Lake has 6 historic places. It tops the 16 towns nearest its size for historic places. Most of its homes are post-1960: only 9.7% came earlier, against 18% in the typical town. The rest is about typical: most dated ones come from the years since 1946; and its places were designated between 2000 and 2006.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- 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.
- Map points. Federal places get their map points from Wikidata, since Parks Canada’s files carry none; they are as mapped there.
- 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.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- 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 Cold Lake’s history
How many historic places does Cold Lake have on the registers?
The registers list 6 historic places inside Cold Lake.
What is the oldest building in Cold Lake?
By its record, Hangar 2, from 1953 (Recognized Federal Heritage Building).
How old are the homes in Cold Lake?
9.7% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
Why might a heritage building in Cold Lake be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 2 more listings in Cold Lake, 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).