History of Edmundston · Canada’s heritage registers
6 historic places on the heritage registers in Edmundston
The record has 3 provincial or municipal listings, 2 heritage railway stations and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Edmundston’s 3.3 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 91% of Canadian towns. Go back to 1927 and you reach The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, the oldest of them. Local registers add 3 more places, counted here but not paged: Wikidata holds their numbers and little else.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1927
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
30%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Then and today: Edmundston in 5 photos and 5 old pictures
Among them: Mont Farlagne and P'tit Sault Blockhouse. Photos show 5 of the places Edmundston’s registers name; the others show their record instead. On their own pages, 2 of Edmundston’s places show how they once looked.
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
Edmundston, 1842 to 1920
3 old photographs of the town and the oldest views of 2 of its historic places, in date order. Each dot on the line is a picture; tap one to open it full screen.
18501875190019251950Before ConfederationConfederation to 1900Boom yearsThe wars and betweenAfter the war
Public 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.
How it began
Edmundston’s milestones, starting in 1850
A change of name came to Edmundston in 1851. Its oldest recorded station, Edmundston Station, dates from 1959. Wikidata gives the municipality of Edmundston the date 1850, which can mark a founding, an incorporation or a merger.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Other federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 6, by tier
3 Other federal designations3 Provincial and local listings
What the map shows is the open record: the federal directory in full, and from provincial or municipal lists only the places Wikidata ties to an encyclopedia article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Other federal designations
3 other places Canada recognizes in Edmundston
Here that means 2 heritage railway stations and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Their dates run from 1929, with “Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Edmundston, New Brunswick”, to 1962. Each one opens its own page.
33% of Edmundston’s historic places are stations, lighthouses and bridges
All told, 5 kinds of place appear. At the head of the list: Government of Canada Building and “Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Edmundston, New Brunswick”.
Stations, lighthouses and bridges2
Public buildings1
Forts and military buildings1
Churches and religious buildings1
Other places1
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
3 more places Edmundston or its province protects
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Start with The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception and Mont Farlagne. Each one opens its own page.
30% of Edmundston’s homes are older than 1961, against a usual 18%
From 2016 to 2021 Edmundston added 3% of its homes, less than the typical town’s 4.1%. Edmundston’s largest group of homes, 34%, went up from 1961 to 1980. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up just 9% of Edmundston’s, against 15% in the typical town.
30%
Before 1961
34%
1961–80
24%
1981–2000
9%
2001–15
3%
2016–21
EdmundstonTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
3 people born in Edmundston before 1914
By Wikipedia’s reach, John Carl Murchie leads, with 5 articles. The earliest is Lévite Thériault, born in 1837. Edgar Fournier closes the list, born in 1908. Longest lived was Edgar Fournier, 86 years in all (1994).
Lévite Thériault
John Carl Murchie
Edgar Fournier
1800182518501875190019251950
JM
John Carl Murchie1895–1966 · Canadian general
EF
Edgar Fournier1908–1994 · Canadian politician
Lévite Thériault1837–1896 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Edmundston → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Towns its size
Edmundston has the 3rd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 18,000 to 18,400 residents, by places on the registers.
Older stock first: 30% of homes in Edmundston were standing by 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 6 historic places. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just 2 have more historic places. Its history in lives: John Carl Murchie (1895), Edgar Fournier (1908) and Lévite Thériault (1837). Beyond that, its places were designated between 1992 and 2005.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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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.
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Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
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The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
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The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
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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.
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People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
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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.
Questions about Edmundston’s history
How many historic places does Edmundston have on the registers?
The registers list 6 historic places inside Edmundston.
How old are the homes in Edmundston?
The 2021 Census dates 30% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
What is the oldest building in Edmundston?
The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception (Provincial heritage place): the first construction date on its record is 1927.
Why might a heritage building in Edmundston be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 3 more listings in Edmundston 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.
1842
c. 1872
1908
1908
c. 1920
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Fed
Local
Local
Local