William Brydone Jack Observatory · Photo: HazelAB · CC BY-SA 3.0
17historic places on the registers
History of Fredericton · Canada’s heritage registers
Fredericton keeps a building from 1691: Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat)
Canada’s heritage registers list 17 historic places inside Fredericton, 12 with the highest designation. Measured against its size, 2.3 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 87% of Canadian towns. On the list: 3 provincial or municipal listings, a heritage railway station and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. 6 more places on provincial or local lists are counted from Wikidata without pages.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1691
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
20%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
11 of 12 top-tier places in Fredericton, pictured
Two to begin with: William Brydone Jack Observatory and Old Government House. Photos show 15 of the places Fredericton’s registers name; the others show their record instead. On their own pages, 5 of Fredericton’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
The past of Fredericton, 1692 to 1909
Here in time order: the oldest views of 4 of its historic places. The dots mark each picture’s year; tap one to enlarge it.
170017501800185019001950New FranceBefore 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 old
In Fredericton, the years before Confederation left the most behind
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
New France before 17601
British North America 1760–18669
After Confederation 1867–19134
Wars and Depression 1914–19451
Since 1946 1946 on2
10 of the 17 dated places are older than Confederation.
How it began
Fredericton on record since 1785
Wikidata holds 1785 as the start of the municipality of Fredericton, a date that can just as well be an incorporation. Fredericton is named after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. On paper, Fredericton became a town in 1786.
Rail service is on record from 1923, when York Street railway station opened.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 17, by tier
12 Highest designations2 Other federal designations3 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
12 places in Fredericton with the highest designation
They date from 1691 (Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat)) to 1886. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Designations came from 1924 to 1993. Each one opens its own page.
They were designated between 1991 and 1992. Here that means a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
More public buildings than anything else in Fredericton: 29%
All told, 6 kinds of place appear. The second-largest group is churches and religious buildings, with 4. Leading by designation: Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat) and Arts Building.
Public buildings5
Churches and religious buildings4
Forts and military buildings2
Stations, lighthouses and bridges1
Mills, shops and works1
Other places4
Grouped by what each register says the place is or was; a converted building counts as what it was built for.
Provincial and local listings
3 local listings in Fredericton
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. They date from 1787 (Old Burial Ground) to 1959. Each one opens its own page.
Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat) went on the registers first, in 1924. The busiest year was 1981, with 2. No place here has been designated since 2011.
Homes by age
6.4% of Fredericton’s homes are from 2016 to 2021 (4.1% is typical)
More than half of Fredericton’s housing predates 2001. The busiest building years in Fredericton were from 1961 to 1980, which account for 29% of today’s homes. 23% of Fredericton’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%.
20%
Before 1961
29%
1961–80
22%
1981–2000
23%
2001–15
6.4%
2016–21
FrederictonTypical 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
People of Fredericton’s past, 5 of them designated by Canada
By Wikipedia’s reach, Bliss Carman leads, with 11 articles. Of them all, W. D. H. Baillie lived longest: 95 years, until 1922. 27 of the 45 were born in the years before Confederation. There are 45 people born here before 1914 with an article to show for it. The timeline keeps to the 20 best known.
William Botsford Jarvis
Charles Fisher
Robert Leonard Hazen
Robert Duncan Wilmot
William Hunter Odell
Alexander Stewart
John Fox
Hannah E. Taylor
George Thomas Taylor
Charles Frederick Hartt
Andrew George Blair
Rebecca Agatha Armour
Hugh Havelock McLean
Bliss Carman
Harry Fulton McLeod
Theodore Goodridge Roberts
Larry McLean
William Harris Lloyd Roberts
King Hazen
Hedley Francis Gregory Bridges
175017751800182518501875190019251950
Bliss Carman1861–1929 · National historic person, 1945 · Canadian-American author
Charles Frederick Hartt1840–1878 · Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist
Charles Fisher1808–1880 · Person of national historic significance (1939) · Canadian politician
Robert Duncan Wilmot1809–1891 · Designated nationally in 1959 · Canadian politician
John Fox1835–1914 · American congressman
Alexander Stewart1829–1912 · American politician from Wisconsin
Andrew George Blair1844–1907 · Canadian politician
RA
Rebecca Agatha Armour1845–1891 · American novelist
Everyone born in Fredericton → Born before 1914. Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against Wikipedia; national historic persons from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, matched by name and life years.
Towns its size
Fredericton has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 66,600 to 81,800 residents, by places on the registers.
The 2021 Census dates 20% of Fredericton’s homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 17 historic places, 12 with the highest designation, led by Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat). Only one of the 16 towns nearest its size has more historic places. Most of its dated places come from the years before Confederation: 9 of 17. Among the lives from its past: Bliss Carman (1861), Charles Frederick Hartt (1840) and Charles Fisher (1808).
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.
•
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.
•
Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
•
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.
•
The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
•
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.
Questions about Fredericton’s history
What is the oldest building in Fredericton?
By its record, Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat), from 1691 (National Historic Site).
Which places in Fredericton have the highest designation?
They are Fort Nashwaak (Naxoat), Arts Building, Fredericton Military Compound, Old Government House, Marysville Historic District and Christ Church Cathedral, and 6 more.
Why might a heritage building in Fredericton be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 6 more listings in Fredericton, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
How old are the homes in Fredericton?
20% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
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.
1692
1850
c. 1885
1909
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