Downtown Grande Prairie from Muskoseepi Park - panoramio

Photo: Grant Berg · CC BY-SA 3.0

0historic places on the registers

History of Grande Prairie · Canada’s heritage registers

Grande Prairie, known as Town of Grande Prairie until 1958

The registers count 3 places within 100 km of Grande Prairie; the closest, Sexsmith Blacksmith Shop, is 21 km away. Before 1961: just 4.9% of the homes, where most towns have 18%.

Historic places within 100 km

1 of the highest designation

Nearest historic place

21 km

Sexsmith Blacksmith Shop

Homes built before 1961

4.9%

typical town: 18%

How it began

From 1914: Grande Prairie’s first milestones

Wikidata holds April 30, 1914 as the start of the municipality of Grande Prairie, a date that can just as well be an incorporation. The name Town of Grande Prairie lasted until 1958, when Grande Prairie took another. Grande Prairie took its legal form as a village in 1914.

How it began: Wikidata (CC0); dates read from English Wikipedia’s article “Grande Prairie”, revision 1381854521 (CC BY-SA 4.0), and stated in our own words.

Around the town

Within 100 km of Grande Prairie, one top designation

All told, 3 places are within 100 km. Between them, 3 towns share them, mainly Sexsmith, Grande Prairie County No. 1 and Fairview No. 136. At 21 km, Sexsmith Blacksmith Shop in Sexsmith is the closest.

The 3 nearest, within 100 km

Sexsmith Blacksmith ShopProvincial historic resource · 1916 · 21 km away, in Sexsmith

Building 15Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1947–1948 · 39 km away, in Grande Prairie County No. 1

Fort DunveganNational Historic Site · 1805–1806 · 85 km away, in Fairview No. 136

Homes by age

Most of Grande Prairie’s homes went up from 2001 to 2015: 42%

Over half of the homes in Grande Prairie were already standing by 2001. New building is strong in Grande Prairie: 5.7% of homes date from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up 22% of Grande Prairie’s, about the typical 27%.

4.9%

Before 1961

22%

1961–80

25%

1981–2000

42%

2001–15

5.7%

2016–21

Grande PrairieTypical town

2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.

Neighbours

Grande Prairie and its neighbours

Town	People	Places	Highest	Oldest
Grande Prairie	71,160	0	0	—
Grande Prairie County No. 1	25,883	1	0	1947

In brief

Grande Prairie in brief

Little of its housing was standing by 1961: 4.9%, against 18% in the typical town. The other figures are unremarkable: it has no historic place, against 2 for the middle town its size.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
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.
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.
The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
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.
Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.

Questions about Grande Prairie’s history

How many historic places does Grande Prairie have on the registers?

The registers have nothing inside Grande Prairie; Sexsmith Blacksmith Shop, in Sexsmith, is 21 km away.

How old are the homes in Grande Prairie?

4.9% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.

Why might a heritage building in Grande Prairie be missing here?

Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 2 more listings in Grande Prairie 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).