LocalMunicipal historic resource · 1912First Presbyterian ChurchPhoto: Mpeel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Victoria Armoury · Photo: Jeffery J. Nichols ( Arctic.gnome ) · CC BY-SA 3.07historic places on the registers
History of Downtown · Canada’s heritage registers
Downtown’s past, on the record: 7 historic places
Per resident Downtown outdoes 95% of Canadian towns, with 5.4 for every 10,000 people. Go back to 1912 and you reach First Presbyterian Church, the oldest of them. Behind these stand 15 more local or provincial listings that only Wikidata records. On the list: 7 provincial or municipal listings.
Historic places
7
5.4 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
7
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1912
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
11%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Downtown now and then, in 7 photos and 3 old views
The photos cover every place on Downtown’s registers. Open a place’s page for its old views: 3 places in Downtown have them. Two to begin with: Victoria Armoury and McKay Avenue School.
McKay Avenue School
First Presbyterian Church
Rossdale Power Plant
Hudson's Bay Company Stables
Hotel Macdonald+2See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
Pictures of Downtown from 1906 to 1942
Here in time order: the oldest views of 3 of its historic places. The dots mark each picture’s year; tap one to enlarge it.
c. 1906
1915
1942Public 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 Downtown’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 7, by tier
7 Provincial and local listings
Most entries are federal, from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations; local listings outside Québec are known only through Wikidata items with an article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Provincial and local listings
On provincial and local lists in Downtown: 7 places
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Their dates run from 1912, with First Presbyterian Church, to 1915. Each one opens its own page.
LocalMunicipal historic resource · 1914Hudson's Bay Company StablesPhoto: Themeancanadian · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
LocalMunicipal historic resource · 1915Hotel MacdonaldPhoto: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file
Local
LocalMunicipal historic resourceMcKay Avenue SchoolPhoto: Jeffery J. Nichols ( Arctic.gnome ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
LocalProvincial historic resourceRossdale Power PlantPhoto: WinterE229 WinterforceMedia · Public domain · Commons file
LocalProvincial historic resourceVictoria ArmouryPhoto: Jeffery J. Nichols ( Arctic.gnome ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Homes by age
Downtown is still building: 9.4% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Downtown’s homes are older than 2001. At 11%, Downtown’s share of pre-1961 homes is under the typical town’s 18%. 30% of Downtown’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%.
11%
Before 1961
31%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
30%
2001–15
9.4%
2016–21
DowntownTypical 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
Downtown has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 12,800 to 13,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Downtown7
Only Centre-Ville has more. The typical town its size has 0. 9 of them have none.
Neighbours
Downtown and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown | 12,880 | 7 | 0 | 1912 |
| Central McDougall | 4,802 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Wîhkwêntôwin | 19,050 | 2 | 0 | 1971 |
| Strathcona | 8,283 | 6 | 0 | 1908 |
| Riverdale | 5,490 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Queen Mary Park | 7,958 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Boyle Street | 5,862 | 1 | 0 | 1912 |
In brief
Downtown in brief
Canada’s heritage lists give Downtown 7 historic places. Just one town of its size, out of 16, has more historic places. Before 1961: just 11% of its homes, against 18% in the typical town. For the rest, its past has lives on the record such as James McKay (1827) and Johnny Francis Grant (1831).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Provincial and municipal lists. Only Wikidata gives open access to listings on provincial and municipal registers outside Québec; without an article such a place is counted but not paged.
- The federal register. The federal list is complete and open: Parks Canada’s directory for the designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places for what each one is and why it matters.
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
- People and events. National historic persons carry no place in the open file. They appear on a town’s page when born there (same name, same birth and death years) or when a historic place inside it carries their name and its record names them with their dates; national historic events don’t appear.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
Questions about Downtown’s history
How many historic places does Downtown have on the registers?
7 historic places inside Downtown, by the federal, Québec and Wikidata-known registers.
What is the oldest building in Downtown?
First Presbyterian Church (Municipal historic resource): the first construction date on its record is 1912.
How old are the homes in Downtown?
The 2021 Census dates 11% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Why might a heritage building in Downtown be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 15 more listings in Downtown are known through Wikidata alone, so they are counted, not paged.
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).