National Historic Site · 1885–1888St. Stephen Post Office34 Milltown Boulevard
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.01historic place on the registers
History of St. Stephen · Canada’s heritage registers
56% of St. Stephen’s homes were built before 1961
Most towns have 18%, so St. Stephen has 3.2 times as much. The registers list 1 historic place inside the town, and it carries the highest designation. That place is St. Stephen Post Office, a national historic site, from 1885. For the municipality itself, Wikidata has 1604, which can be an incorporation or a merger rather than a founding.
Historic places
1
2.1 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1885
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
56%
typical town: 18%
Through time
Pictures of St. Stephen from 1905 to 1922
Set out by date: 4 old photographs of the town. Point at a dot for its year, or tap a picture to enlarge it.
1905
1905
1920
1922Public 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 St. Stephen’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Dots open their places’ pages; hover first to read the name.
The 1, by tier
1 Highest designations
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.
Highest designations
St. Stephen’s top designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
The highest designation, 6 times, within 25 km of St. Stephen
Within 25 km there are 10 in all. The record reaches back to 1784 with St. Andrews Historic District, 23 km away. At 21 km, Cottage 1 in Saint Andrews is the closest.
The 10 nearest, within 25 km
| Cottage 1Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1916–1917 · 21 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Minister's IslandNational Historic Site · 1889–1916 · 22 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Minister's Island Pre-contact SitesNational Historic Site · 22 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| St. Andrews BlockhouseNational Historic Site · 1812–1814 · 22 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| The Algonquin ResortLocal historic place · 1889 · 22 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Greenock ChurchNational Historic Site · 1821–1825 · 23 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Ross Memorial MuseumLocal historic place · 1980 · 23 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| St. Andrews Historic DistrictNational Historic Site · 1784–2008 · 23 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Charlotte County Court HouseNational Historic Site · 1832–1837 · 23 km away, in Saint Andrews |
| Charlotte County GaolProvincial heritage place · 23 km away, in Saint Andrews |
Homes by age
56% of St. Stephen’s homes were built before 1961
St. Stephen built little from 1981 to 2000: 15% of its homes, where most towns have 23%. Only 8.2% of St. Stephen’s homes were built from 2001 to 2015, less than the typical town’s 15%. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up just 17% of St. Stephen’s, against 27% in the typical town.
56%
Before 1961
17%
1961–80
15%
1981–2000
8.2%
2001–15
3.9%
2016–21
St. StephenTypical 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
Lives that started in St. Stephen, 1794–1906
At 96, Jack Mackenzie outlived the rest, dying in 1984. Before 1914, 18 births here made the record. By Wikipedia’s reach, Henry Burr leads, with 11 articles. 13 of the 18 were born in the decades after Confederation.
George Stilman Hill
George F. Hill
John Waterhouse Daniel
William Frederick Todd
W.C.H. Grimmer
J. Howard Crocker
Margherita Arlina Hamm
Arthur R. MacKenzie
Arthur D. Ganong
Henry Burr
Burton Hill
John S. Smiley
Jack Mackenzie
Alton D. Taylor
Hardy N. Ganong
Kenneth J. Webber
Isaiah L. Kenen
R. Whidden Ganong
175017751800182518501875190019251950
Henry Burr1882–1941 · Canadian singer, radio performer and producer
IK
Isaiah L. Kenen1905–1988 · American zionist
BH
Burton Hill1883–1963 · Canadian politician
William Frederick Todd1854–1935 · Canadian politician
AG
Arthur D. Ganong1877–1963 · Canadian curler
JD
John Waterhouse Daniel1845–1933 · Canadian politician
Margherita Arlina Hamm1871–1907 · American journalist and writer
W.C.H. Grimmer1858–1945 · Canadian lawyer and politician
Everyone born in St. Stephen → 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
St. Stephen has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 4,800 to 4,900 residents, by places on the registers.
St. Stephen1
Just one has more: Saint-Jacques. The middle one has 0. For 13, the registers list nothing.
Neighbours
St. Stephen and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Stephen | 4,876 | 1 | 1 | 1885 |
| Saint Stephen | 1,772 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Saint David | 1,559 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Saint James | 1,085 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
St. Stephen in brief
Housing in St. Stephen includes 56% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. In all there are 1 historic place, one with the highest designation, including St. Stephen Post Office. Just one town of its size, out of 16, has more historic places. Its people of the past include Henry Burr (1882), Isaiah L. Kenen (1905) and Burton Hill (1883). Everything else is close to the norm: its one place was designated in 1983.
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. 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. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events are left out.
- The federal register. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
- 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.
- Map points. Federal places get their map points from Wikidata, since Parks Canada’s files carry none; they are as mapped there.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
Questions about St. Stephen’s history
How old are the homes in St. Stephen?
Before 1961: 56% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Which places in St. Stephen have the highest designation?
St. Stephen Post Office.
What is the oldest building in St. Stephen?
St. Stephen Post Office, a National Historic Site, begun in 1885.
Why might a heritage building in St. Stephen be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 11 more listings in St. Stephen 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).