66 Victoria Street East · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0
4historic places on the registers
History of Amherst · Canada’s heritage registers
An older town: 45% of Amherst’s homes predate 1961
The typical town has 18%: Amherst has 2.5 times the share. The list takes in 2 provincial or municipal listings, a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. On the registers, the town counts 4 historic places. Scaled to its population the record is long: 4 per 10,000 residents, more than 93% of Canadian towns.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1895
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
45%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Amherst now and then, in 3 photos and 1 old views
Begin with 66 Victoria Street East, then Armoury. The photos cover 3 of Amherst’s designated places; the rest keep their register record. 66 Victoria Street East, dated 1895, is the oldest place pictured in Amherst.
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
Looking back at Amherst
The past in one picture: one old photograph of the town. It opens full screen with a tap.
1919The wars and betweenWorkers of Robb Engineering Works Limited walk out, Amherst, N.S, via Library a…Public domain
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
The making of Amherst, from 1764
Settlers were living at Amherst by 1764. On the open record, Amherst as a municipality goes back to 1764, though that may be a charter rather than a first settlement. Amherst takes its name from Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst.
The first railway station on record, Amherst railway station, opened in 1908.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Other federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 4, by tier
2 Other federal designations2 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
2 other places Canada recognizes in Amherst
“VIA Rail/Canadian National Railways Station, Amherst, Nova Scotia” is the earliest, from 1907; the latest dates from 1915. The group holds 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.
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. 66 Victoria Street East is the earliest, from 1895; the latest dates from 1906. Each one opens its own page.
Amherst added few homes from 2016 to 2021: 3%, where most towns have 4.1%
Homes built from 1981 to 2000 make up just 16% of Amherst’s, against 23% in the typical town. More than half of Amherst’s housing predates 1981. Building from 1961 to 1980 gave Amherst 24% of its homes, near the usual 27%.
45%
Before 1961
24%
1961–80
16%
1981–2000
13%
2001–15
3%
2016–21
AmherstTypical 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
Amherst’s 2 persons of national historic significance, and others
The longest life was Robert B. Dickey’s: 103 years, to 1903. Before 1914, 27 births here made the record. Fame, by Wikipedia: Charles Tupper first, in 34 languages. It starts with Edward Barron Chandler, born in 1800. Only the 20 best known fit the timeline.
Robert B. Dickey
Edward Barron Chandler
Charles Tupper
Frances Tupper
Amos Atkinson Bliss
William Thomas Pipes
Arthur Rupert Dickey
Charles Hibbert Tupper
George Cove
Albert James Smith Copp
George Barton Cutten
James Robson Douglas
Edgar Nelson Rhodes
Percy Chapman Black
James Ralston
Wyndham Lewis
Loring Christie
Robert Knowlton Smith
Norman McLeod Rogers
Harry Dennis Madden
1800182518501875190019251950
Charles Tupper1821–1915 · Person of national historic significance (1957) · 6th Prime Minister …
Wyndham Lewis1882–1957 · English painter, writer and critic
Robert B. Dickey1800–1903 · Canadian politician
Charles Hibbert Tupper1855–1927 · Canadian politician
George Cove1863–2000 · Canadian inventor
Norman McLeod Rogers1894–1940 · Canadian politician
Edward Barron Chandler1800–1880 · On Canada’s list since 1939 · Canadian politician
Edgar Nelson Rhodes1877–1942 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Amherst → 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
Amherst has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 10,000 to 10,100 residents, by places on the registers.
In Amherst, 45% of homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. In all there are 4 historic places. It tops the 16 towns nearest its size for historic places. Its people of the past include Charles Tupper (1821), Wyndham Lewis (1882) and Robert B. Dickey (1800). Beyond that, the designations ran from 1990 to 1992.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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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.
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Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
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Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
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The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
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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.
•
Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
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The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
Questions about Amherst’s history
How old are the homes in Amherst?
Before 1961: 45% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
How many historic places does Amherst have on the registers?
4 historic places inside Amherst, by the federal, Québec and Wikidata-known registers.
What is the oldest building in Amherst?
By its record, 66 Victoria Street East, from 1895 (Municipally Registered Property).
Why might a heritage building in Amherst be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 14 more listings in Amherst 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.
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