Photo: Globalphotobank · CC BY-SA 4.0History around Williams Lake: 2 designated places within 100 km
The typical town keeps 18% of its homes from before 1961; here it is 9.2%. Heritage of the first rank begins 92 km away, in Electoral Area A, Cariboo.
Top-ranked heritage near Williams Lake: one place within 100 km
Between them, 2 towns share them, mainly Electoral Area A, Cariboo and Mile 108 Recreational Ranch. They are a National Historic Site and a provincial or municipal listing. The nearest is Fort Alexandria, 59 km away in Electoral Area A, Cariboo.
The 2 nearest, within 100 km
| Fort AlexandriaNational Historic Site · 1821–1822 · 59 km away, in Electoral Area A, Cariboo |
| 108 Mile RanchListed in a community heritage register · 69 km away, in Mile 108 Recreational Ranch |
Only 2.6% of Williams Lake’s homes were built from 2016 to 2021 (4.1% is typical)
Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up just 9.2% of Williams Lake’s, against 15% in the typical town. 54% of Williams Lake’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, more than the typical town’s 27%. More than half of Williams Lake’s housing predates 1981.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
How Williams Lake compares with 16 towns its size
Towns of 11,400 to 11,500 residents, by places on the registers.
Only Banff, Arnprior and William Whyte have more. Their median is 0. 13 of them have none.
Williams Lake and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams Lake | 11,462 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Electoral Area D, Cariboo | 3,057 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Electoral Area E, Cariboo | 4,242 | 0 | 0 | — |
Williams Lake in brief
Its oldest homes, those from before 1961, are 9.2% of the total, against 18% in the typical town. Towns its size usually have more historic places; the middle one has 0.
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.
- 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. 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.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- The tiers. National Historic Sites and the most protected buildings form the top tier; recognized federal buildings, stations and lighthouses the second; provincial and municipal listings the third.
Questions about Williams Lake’s history
How many historic places does Williams Lake have on the registers?
None inside Williams Lake yet. The nearest, Fort Alexandria, carries the highest designation, 59 km away in Electoral Area A, Cariboo.
How old are the homes in Williams Lake?
Before 1961: 9.2% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
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).