TopNational Historic Site · 1883–1951Bar U RanchHighway 22 and Highway 540Photo: Traveler100 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Foreman’s House · Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.033historic places on the registers
History of Foothills County · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Foothills County: 33 historic places, 31 of the highest rank
The record has 2 provincial or municipal listings. For its size Foothills County is rich ground: 13 per 10,000 residents, ahead of 99% of Canadian towns. Its oldest building on the record is Storage Building 10, from 1880. Before 1961: just 8.2% of the homes, where most towns have 18%.
Historic places
33
13 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
31
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
2
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1880
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
8.2%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
24 pictures of Foothills County today, 1 from its past
26 designated places in Foothills County have a photo. The set includes 25 of Foothills County’s highest-designated places. In front: Foreman’s House and “Post Office, Building 5”.
Post Office, Building 5
Percheron Box Stalls
Slaughter House, Building 27
Dairy Barn
Bar U Ranch+19See 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
Old pictures of Foothills County
The past in one picture: one old photograph of the town. A tap opens it at full size, with its credit.
1927Public 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 Foothills County’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsProvincial and local listings400 m from Blacksmith Shop
27 of 31within 400 m of Blacksmith Shop, the heart of the town’s history
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 33, by tier
31 Highest designations2 Provincial and local listings
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
31 places in Foothills County with the highest designation
Here that means 30 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and a National Historic Site. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Storage Building 10 is the earliest, from 1880; the latest dates from 1956. Each one opens its own page.
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1880–1901Storage Building 10Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1883–1884Saddle Horse Barn, Building 16Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1883–1884Storage Building 8Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1883–1893Work Horse Barn, Building 17Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1884–1888Foreman’s HousePhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1886–1887Post Office, Building 5Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1889–1890Storage Building 9Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1900–1907Blacksmith ShopPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1902–1928Dairy BarnPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1902–1928Percheron Box StallsPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Bunkhouse and CookhousePhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Show the other 19
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Coal ShedPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Feed MillPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Harness ShopPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1921Pearson's HousePhoto: Jeffery J. Nichols · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Stud Horse Barn, Building 1Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1910–1911Implement ShedPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1910–1911Root Cellar, Building 13Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1920–1930WoodshedPhoto: Jeffery J. Nichols · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1928Privy, Building 28Photo: Jeffery J. Nichols · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1928Slaughter House, Building 27Photo: Jeffery J. Nichols · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1928Vehicle Garage, Building 35Photo: Jeffery J. Nichols · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1940–1941Tractor Garage, Building 7Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1956–1957Hay ShedPhoto: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1902–1928Piggery
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1909–1911Self Feeder, former Bunkhouse, Building 30
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1931Poultry Building 21
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1927–1931Poultry Shed, Building 21A
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1930–1931Vehicle Garage, Building 24
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1940–1941Livestock Shed
What’s designated
Foothills County’s largest group: mills, shops and works, 18%
Its places fall into 4 kinds. The second-largest group is houses, with 3. At the head of the list: Bar U Ranch and Storage Building 10.
Mills, shops and works6
Houses3
Public buildings1
Other places23
Kinds read from each place’s name and the functions its register gives; a building keeps the kind it was built as.
Provincial and local listings
2 more places Foothills County or its province protects
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Among them: E.P. Ranch and Old Women's Buffalo Jump. Each one opens its own page.
LocalProvincial historic resourceE.P. Ranch
How old
Most of Foothills County’s dated places come from the decades after Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18660
After Confederation 1867–191321
Wars and Depression 1914–19459
Since 1946 1946 on1
When designated
Most of Foothills County’s designations came in 1993
The places by the year of their designation.
1993 · 30
198020002020
The first was Bar U Ranch, in 1989. The busiest year was 1993, with 30. No place here has been designated since 2011.
Homes by age
The biggest share of Foothills County’s homes dates from 2001 to 2015: 35%
Half of the homes standing in Foothills County today were built before 2001. From 2016 to 2021 Foothills County added 6% of its homes, more than the typical town’s 4.1%. Only 19% of Foothills County’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%.
8.2%
Before 1961
19%
1961–80
32%
1981–2000
35%
2001–15
6%
2016–21
Foothills 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
Foothills County has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 25,300 to 26,200 residents, by places on the registers.
Foothills County33
The middle one has 0. 10 of them have none.
Neighbours
Foothills County and its neighbours
In brief
Foothills County in brief
Foothills County has 33 historic places, 31 with the highest designation, among them Bar U Ranch. It tops the 16 towns nearest its size for historic places. Around Blacksmith Shop, 27 of the places of the highest designation lie within 400 m.
By date, the decades after Confederation lead: 21 of 31. Its oldest homes, those from before 1961, are 8.2% of the total, against 18% in the typical town. The big year was 1993, when 30 of the 31 were designated.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The federal register. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
- 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.
- 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.
- People and events. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events are left out.
- Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
Questions about Foothills County’s history
Which places in Foothills County have the highest designation?
They are Bar U Ranch, Storage Building 10, Saddle Horse Barn, Building 16, Storage Building 8, Work Horse Barn, Building 17 and Foreman’s House, and 25 more.
What is the oldest building in Foothills County?
Storage Building 10 — its record dates it to 1880 (Classified Federal Heritage Building).
How old are the homes in Foothills County?
Before 1961: 8.2% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Why might a heritage building in Foothills County be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 2 more listings in Foothills County 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).