Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Museum and Caretaker's House · Photo: daryl_mitchell · CC BY-SA 2.0Older housing stands out in Cape Breton: 37% of homes predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%. All told the heritage lists hold 9 historic places within the town, and 3 sit in the top tier. Per resident that is more than in 78% of Canadian towns: 0.8 for every 10,000 people. Among the places are 3 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and 3 provincial or municipal listings.
The set includes one of Cape Breton’s most honoured places. 5 designated places in Cape Breton have a photo. Two to begin with: Museum and Caretaker's House and Louisburg Railway Station.
Louisburg Railway Station
Holy Ghost Ukrainian Church
Light Tower
Glace Bay Heritage Museum+1See all photosPhotos 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.
In order of date: 5 old photographs of the town, then the oldest view of one of its historic places. Tap any picture to see it full screen.
c. 1900
1903
c. 1908
1910–1920
1927
c. 1928Public 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.
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
Of the 9 with a date, one predates 1867.
On the open record, Cape Breton as a municipality goes back to August 1, 1995, though that may be a charter rather than a first settlement. Louisburg Railway Station, the earliest station on record, opened in 1895.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
Federal designations come from Parks Canada’s directory; a province’s or a council’s own listing shows here only when Wikidata holds it and an encyclopedia covers it.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Their dates run from 1758, with Wolfe's Landing, to 1935. They are 2 National Historic Sites and a Classified Federal Heritage Building. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Their dates run from 1938, with Light Tower, to 1966. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. The first was designated in 2002, the latest in 2006. Each one opens its own page.
Leading by designation: Wolfe's Landing and Marconi Wireless Station. Next come theatres, museums and memorials: 2. By kind, the list runs to 5 groups.
Grouped by what each register says the place is or was; a converted building counts as what it was built for.
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Their dates run from 1895, with Louisburg Railway Station, to 1913. Each one opens its own page.
Places the registers give to the town from within 5 km of its edge, nearest first.
| MarconiNational Historic Site · 100 m outside the town |
| TowerRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 100 m outside the town |
| Highland Arts TheatreMunicipally Registered Property · 100 m outside the town |
| Flint Island LighthouseRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 100 m outside the town |
| Fortress of LouisbourgNational Historic Site · 200 m outside the town |
| Royal BatteryNational Historic Site · 200 m outside the town |
| Bank of Montreal BuildingMunicipally Registered Property · 400 m outside the town |
| Gabarus Light TowerRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 400 m outside the town |
| St. George's ChurchProvincially Registered Property · 600 m outside the town |
Few of Cape Breton’s homes date from 2001 to 2015: 8.6%, the norm 15%. Over half of the homes in Cape Breton were already standing by 1981. 30% of Cape Breton’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, close to the typical town’s 27%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
30 of the 45 were born in the decades after Confederation. Canada counts Jeanne Dugas and John George Bourinot among its national historic persons. Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett lived longest, to 100, dying in 1990. There are 45 people born here before 1914 with an article to show for it. Only the 20 best known fit the timeline.
Everyone born in Cape Breton → 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 of 97,800 to 115,400 residents, by places on the registers.
Just these have more: Victoria, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Moncton. The middle one has 5. For 4, the registers list nothing.
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Breton | 106,752 | 9 | 3 | 1758 |
| Membertou 28B | 1,266 | 0 | 0 | — |
The 2021 Census dates 37% of Cape Breton’s homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 9 historic places, 3 with the highest designation, led by Wolfe's Landing. Only 3 of the 16 towns nearest its size have more historic places. Hugh MacLennan (1907), George Cleveland (1885) and William Connell (1827) lead its people of the past. For the rest, its places were designated between 1929 and 2006.
Wolfe's Landing, a National Historic Site, begun in 1758.
The 2021 Census dates 37% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
They are Wolfe's Landing, Marconi Wireless Station and Museum and Caretaker's House.
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; 7 further listings in Cape Breton show up only as Wikidata numbers.
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).
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