The registers list 3 historic places in Aurora, one at the top
Among the places are a provincial or municipal listing and a heritage railway station. The oldest dated place, Hillary House, goes back to 1861. Per resident Aurora has more than 74% of Canadian towns: 0.4 for every 10,000 people. Only 8.3% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1861
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
8.3%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Aurora in 3 photos and 1 old pictures
Begin with Hillary House, then Aurora Radial Railway Bridge Abutment. Photos show every place Aurora’s registers name. 3 different photographers shared them on Wikimedia Commons.
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
Aurora before 1950
A single old picture: the oldest view of one of its historic places. It opens full screen with a tap.
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
1853 and after: Aurora’s milestones
On the open record, Aurora as a municipality goes back to 1854, though that may be a charter rather than a first settlement. On paper, Aurora became a village in 1862. Rail service is on record from 1853, when Aurora GO Station opened.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 3, by tier
1 Highest designations1 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.
Highest designations
One place in Aurora with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
A growing town: 13% of Aurora’s homes went up from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Only 14% of Aurora’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 28% of Aurora’s, against 15% in the typical town. Aurora’s largest group of homes, 37%, went up from 1981 to 2000.
8.3%
Before 1961
14%
1961–80
37%
1981–2000
28%
2001–15
13%
2016–21
AuroraTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Aurora holds 3 historic places on Canada’s registers, one with the highest designation, including Hillary House. The census dates only 8.3% of its homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The rest is about typical: it has 3 historic places, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 2); people of its past such as James Pearson Wells (1822) and Robert Frederic Stupart (1857); and its places were designated between 1973 and 1990.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
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The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Map points. Federal places get their map points from Wikidata, since Parks Canada’s files carry none; they are as mapped there.
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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.
Questions about Aurora’s history
Which places in Aurora have the highest designation?
Hillary House.
What is the oldest building in Aurora?
Hillary House (National Historic Site): the first construction date on its record is 1861.
How old are the homes in Aurora?
The 2021 Census dates 8.3% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Why might a heritage building in Aurora be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 20 more listings in Aurora, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
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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