TopNational Historic Site · 1838Battle of the WindmillCounty Road 2 EastPhoto: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file
Photo: Squirrelwhisperer · CC BY-SA 4.02historic places on the registers
History of Cardinal · Canada’s heritage registers
Cardinal: 2 historic places, every one with the highest designation
Cardinal has kept more old homes than most towns: 34% were built before 1961, against 18%. The earliest construction date, 1832, belongs to Windmill Tower. For every 10,000 residents Cardinal has 2.5, ahead of 88% of Canadian towns.
Historic places
2
2.5 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
2
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1832
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
34%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Historic Cardinal, pictured
Among them: Windmill Tower and Battle of the Windmill. Photos show both of the places Cardinal’s registers name.
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
Cardinal, long ago
The past in one picture: the oldest view of one of its historic places. Tap it to see it full screen.
1898–1920Public 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 Cardinal’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 2, by tier
2 Highest designations
Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists the places the Government of Canada has recognized; outside Québec, provincial and municipal listings come only through Wikidata, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
2 places in Cardinal with the highest designation
They are a National Historic Site and a Classified Federal Heritage Building. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Windmill Tower is the earliest, from 1832; the latest dates from 1838. Each one opens its own page.
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1832–1833Windmill TowerPhoto: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file
Around the town
The highest designation, 4 times, within 25 km of Cardinal
Between them, 3 towns share them, mainly Prescott, Kemptville and Augusta. Oldest of them is Pointe au Baril (1758), 25 km off. The registers hold 4 within 25 km.
The 4 nearest, within 25 km
| Fort WellingtonNational Historic Site · 1813–1815 · 14 km away, in Prescott |
| Prescott Railway Station (Grand Trunk)National Historic Site · 1855–1856 · 14 km away, in Prescott |
| Oxford-on-Rideau Township HallNational Historic Site · 1875–1876 · 25 km away, in Kemptville |
| Pointe au BarilNational Historic Site · 1758–1760 · 25 km away, in Augusta |
Homes by age
New homes are rare in Cardinal: 2.5% from 2016–21, against a usual 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Cardinal’s homes are older than 1981. 28% of Cardinal’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, close to the typical town’s 27%. Building from 1981 to 2000 gave Cardinal 22% of its homes, near the usual 23%.
34%
Before 1961
28%
1961–80
22%
1981–2000
13%
2001–15
2.5%
2016–21
CardinalTypical 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
Born in Cardinal before the First World War: 3 lives
9 Wikipedias cover Rusty Crawford, the most of anyone here. The longest life here was Rusty Crawford’s, 86 years, ending in 1971. In 1869 came the earliest, William Sanford Evans. At the other end is Rusty Crawford, from 1885.
William Sanford Evans
Bernard Munroe Stitt
Rusty Crawford
18501875190019251950
Rusty Crawford1885–1971 · Canadian ice hockey player
WE
William Sanford Evans1869–1949 · Canadian politician
BS
Bernard Munroe Stitt1880–1942 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Cardinal → 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
Cardinal has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 7,900 to 8,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Cardinal2
The typical town its size has 0. For 13, the registers list nothing.
Neighbours
Cardinal and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal | 7,952 | 2 | 2 | 1832 |
| Prescott | 4,342 | 7 | 3 | 1813 |
| Morrisburg | 11,943 | 1 | 1 | 1813 |
| Augusta | 7,767 | 2 | 2 | 1758 |
In brief
Cardinal in brief
Cardinal’s homes from before 1961 come to 34%, against 18% in the typical town. The lists come to 2 historic places, 2 with the highest designation. It tops the 16 towns nearest its size for historic places. The town’s people of the past are Rusty Crawford (1885), William Sanford Evans (1869) and Bernard Munroe Stitt (1880). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: its places were designated between 1920 and 1989.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
- 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 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 tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
- 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.
- 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.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
Questions about Cardinal’s history
How old are the homes in Cardinal?
Before 1961: 34% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Which places in Cardinal have the highest designation?
These: Battle of the Windmill and Windmill Tower.
What is the oldest building in Cardinal?
Windmill Tower (Classified Federal Heritage Building): the first construction date on its record is 1832.
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).