History of Amherstburg · Canada’s heritage registers
Amherstburg’s record starts in 1790 with Park House
The registers put 11 historic places inside Amherstburg’s boundary, 8 of them of the highest rank. For its size this is rich ground: 4 per 10,000 residents, ahead of 93% of Canadian towns. Among the places are 2 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and a provincial or municipal listing. A further 2 sit a short way past the edge of town.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1790
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
24%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
6 of Amherstburg’s 8 highest-designated places, photographed
Two worth a look first: Fort Malden and Amherstburg First Baptist Church. There are photos here of 8 of Amherstburg’s designated places. Open a place’s page for its old views: 2 places in Amherstburg have them.
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
Amherstburg through the years, 1893–1925
By date: the oldest views of 2 of its historic places. Scroll the strip and tap a picture to open it.
18801890190019101920193019401950Confederation 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
Amherstburg’s dated places lean to the years before Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–186610
After Confederation 1867–19130
Wars and Depression 1914–19451
Since 1946 1946 on0
10 of the 11 dated places are older than Confederation.
How it began
Amherstburg through its dates, from 1878
Wikidata holds 1878 as the start of the municipality of Amherstburg, a date that can just as well be an incorporation. Amherstburg takes its name from Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst. Amherstburg took its legal form as a town in 1878.
Rail service is on record from 1896, when Amherstburg MCR Station opened.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 11, by tier
8 Highest designations2 Other federal designations1 Provincial and local listings
Most entries are federal, from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations; local listings outside Québec are known only through Wikidata items with an article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. 3 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Highest designations
8 places in Amherstburg with the highest designation
Their dates run from 1790, with Park House, to 1939. By designation: 6 National Historic Sites and 2 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Their dates run from 1831, with Commissariat Office / Callum House, to 1861. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1861–1863Hough House100 Laird Avenue South
What’s designated
Churches and religious buildings and houses share the lead in Amherstburg, 3 each
By kind, the list runs to 5 groups. Across Canada forts and military buildings are 10% of the designated places; here they are 27%. Leading by designation: Park House and Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse and Blockhouse.
Churches and religious buildings3
Houses3
Forts and military buildings3
Public buildings1
Theatres, museums and memorials1
Each place sits in one group, from its name first, then the uses its register lists.
Provincial and local listings
On a provincial or local list in Amherstburg: one place
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
7.9% of Amherstburg’s homes are from 2016 to 2021 (4.1% is typical)
More of Amherstburg’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980 than in any other period: 26%. Homes from before 1961 make up 24% of Amherstburg’s housing; the typical town has 18%. Over half of the homes in Amherstburg were already standing by 1981.
24%
Before 1961
26%
1961–80
26%
1981–2000
16%
2001–15
7.9%
2016–21
AmherstburgTypical 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
Before 1914, Amherstburg gave 14 lives to the record
Of them all, Shelton Brooks lived longest: 89 years, until 1975. In 1807 came the earliest, George Muir. The widest known is Seth Bullock: 12 Wikipedia editions. David A. Balfour closes the list, born in 1889.
George Muir
George Benson Hall, Jr.
Charles-Joseph Coursol
John Christian Schultz
Anthony Binga Jr.
Henry William McKenney
Seth Bullock
Eugene Coste
James Duncan McGregor
Norman Hackett
Nig Clarke
Eccles James Gott
Shelton Brooks
David A. Balfour
1800182518501875190019251950
Seth Bullock1849–1919 · (1849-1919) American lawman, businessman
SB
Shelton Brooks1886–1975 · Canadian-born African American composer of popular music and jazz
John Christian Schultz1840–1896 · Canadian Manitoba politician and businessman
JM
James Duncan McGregor1860–1935 · Canadian agricultural pioneer
Charles-Joseph Coursol1819–1888 · Former mayor of Montreal, Quebec
Nig Clarke1882–1949 · Canadian baseball player
GJ
George Benson Hall, Jr.1810–1876 · Canadian businessman
Norman Hackett1874–1959 · Canadian actor
Everyone born in Amherstburg → 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
Amherstburg has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 27,200 to 27,800 residents, by places on the registers.
Housing in Amherstburg includes 24% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. In all there are 11 historic places, 8 with the highest designation, including Park House. No town its size has more historic places: it leads the 16 nearest in population. By date, the years before Confederation lead: 10 of 11. Seth Bullock (1849), Shelton Brooks (1886) and John Christian Schultz (1840) are the best known of its historic lives.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
•
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.
•
The tiers. National Historic Sites and the most protected buildings form the top tier; recognized federal buildings, stations and lighthouses the second; provincial and municipal listings the third.
•
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. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
•
Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
Questions about Amherstburg’s history
What is the oldest building in Amherstburg?
By its record, Park House, from 1790 (National Historic Site).
Which places in Amherstburg have the highest designation?
Park House, Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse and Blockhouse, Fort Malden, Belle Vue, Amherstburg First Baptist Church and Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church, and 2 more.
How old are the homes in Amherstburg?
The 2021 Census dates 24% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical 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.
1893
c. 1925
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