TopNational Historic Site · 1788–1789Fort ChipewyanPhoto: Tyrrell, James William · Public domain · Commons file
Quarry of the Ancestors · Photo: CLS Research Office from Saskatoon, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.04historic places on the registers
History of Fort McMurray · Canada’s heritage registers
Back to 1788 in Fort McMurray, with Fort Chipewyan
The typical town keeps 18% of its homes from before 1961; here it is 1.3%. All told the heritage lists hold 4 historic places within the town, and one sits in the top tier. That is 0.5 for every 10,000 people, a higher rate than 74% of Canadian towns. Designations here include 3 provincial or municipal listings.
Historic places
4
0.5 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
3
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1788
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
1.3%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Fort McMurray’s landmarks in 3 photos, with 2 old views
3 designated places in Fort McMurray have a photo. The first two: Fort Chipewyan and Quarry of the Ancestors. Credit goes to 3 photographers, each named on the photo.
Photos 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
The past of Fort McMurray, 1820 to 1914
One old photograph of the town and the oldest view of one of its historic places, in date order. Tap any picture to see it full screen.
1820
1914Public 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 Fort McMurray’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsProvincial and local listings
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 4, by tier
1 Highest designations3 Provincial and local listings
Federal designations come from Parks Canada’s directory; a province’s or a council’s own listing shows here only when Wikidata holds it and an encyclopedia covers it.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
Fort McMurray’s top designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Provincial and local listings
On provincial and local lists in Fort McMurray: 3 places
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Beaver River Quarry Archaeological Site and Bitumount lead the list. Each one opens its own page.
Local
LocalProvincial historic resourceQuarry of the AncestorsPhoto: CLS Research Office from Saskatoon, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file
Provincial historic resourceBeaver River Quarry Archaeological Site
Homes by age
A growing town: 9.8% of Fort McMurray’s homes went up from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
47% of Fort McMurray’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%. Fort McMurray built little from 1961 to 1980: 20% of its homes, where most towns have 27%. Homes built from 1981 to 2000 make up 22% of Fort McMurray’s, about the typical 23%.
1.3%
Before 1961
20%
1961–80
22%
1981–2000
47%
2001–15
9.8%
2016–21
Fort McMurrayTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
In brief
Fort McMurray in brief
Fort McMurray holds 4 historic places on Canada’s registers, one with the highest designation, including Fort Chipewyan. Its housing is young: only 1.3% predates 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: 4 historic places is about usual for its size (the median is 3); people of its past such as William Roderick Ross (1869) and Louis Schmidt (1844); and its one place was designated in 1930.
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.
- Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
- 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. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
- The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
- 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. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
Questions about Fort McMurray’s history
What is the oldest building in Fort McMurray?
Fort Chipewyan, a National Historic Site, begun in 1788.
How old are the homes in Fort McMurray?
Before 1961: 1.3% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Which places in Fort McMurray have the highest designation?
Fort Chipewyan.
Why might a heritage building in Fort McMurray be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 3 more listings in Fort McMurray, 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).