TopNational Historic Site · 1816–1824Inverarden HouseJust east of 3330 Montreal Rd.Photo: Yoho2001 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Inverarden House · Photo: Yoho2001 · CC BY-SA 3.02historic places on the registers
History of Cornwall · Canada’s heritage registers
An older town: 37% of Cornwall’s homes predate 1961
The typical town has 18%: Cornwall has 2.1 times the share. On the registers the town counts 2 historic places, one at the top. Of the dated places, Inverarden House is the oldest, from 1816. Counted by designation, there are a Recognized Federal Heritage Building.
Historic places
2
0.4 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
1
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Oldest building
1816
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
37%
typical town: 18%
Through time
Looking back at Cornwall
A single old picture: one old photograph of the town. Open it full screen with a tap.
1902Public 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 Cornwall’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 2, by tier
1 Highest designations1 Other federal designations
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. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.
Highest designations
The highest rank in Cornwall: one place
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Other federal designations
One more federal designation in Cornwall
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1938–1940Cornwall Armoury505 Fourth Street East
Around the town
Within 25 km of Cornwall: 4 places on the registers
Closest of all is Glengarry House, in South Glengarry, 8.9 km off. The record reaches back to 1784 with Sir John Johnson House, 18 km away.
The 4 nearest, within 25 km
| Glengarry HouseNational Historic Site · 1792–1793 · 8.9 km away, in South Glengarry |
| Sir John Johnson HouseNational Historic Site · 1784–1793 · 18 km away, in South Glengarry |
| Bethune-Thompson House / White HouseNational Historic Site · 1784–1805 · 18 km away, in South Glengarry |
| Ruin of St. Raphael's Roman Catholic ChurchNational Historic Site · 1815–1822 · 23 km away, in South Glengarry |
Homes by age
New homes are rare in Cornwall: 3% from 2016–21, against a usual 4.1%
More than half of Cornwall’s housing predates 1981. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up just 7.4% of Cornwall’s, against 15% in the typical town. Building from 1961 to 1980 gave Cornwall 33% of its homes, near the usual 27%.
37%
Before 1961
33%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
7.4%
2001–15
3%
2016–21
CornwallTypical 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
1808 to 1910: the people Cornwall gave its past
The widest known is Duncan McNaughton: 25 Wikipedia editions. There are 19 people born here before 1914 with an article to show for it. Of them all, Duncan McNaughton lived longest: 88 years, until 1998. Most of them, 14 of 19, came into the world in the decades after Confederation.
James McGill Strachan
Hiram S. Town
Jacob Harold Gallinger
Donald Alexander Macdonald
Robert Abercrombie Pringle
Bones Allen
Reddy McMillan
Owen McCourt
Don Smith
Newsy Lalonde
Arnold Neilson Smith
MacDonald Parke
Guy Smith
Corbett Denneny
Albertine Lapensée
Lionel Chevrier
Farrand Gillie
Albert Lavigne
Duncan McNaughton
1800182518501875190019251950
Duncan McNaughton1910–1998 · Athletics competitor
NL
Newsy Lalonde1887–1970 · Ice hockey and lacrosse player
Jacob Harold Gallinger1837–1918 · American politician
Corbett Denneny1894–1963 · Canadian ice hockey player
Don Smith1887–1959 · Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens)
AL
Albertine Lapensée1898–1963 · Canadian ice hockey player
Lionel Chevrier1903–1987 · Member of the Canadian House of Commons
Bones Allen1881–1941 · Canadian ice hockey player
Everyone born in Cornwall → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Neighbours
Cornwall and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornwall | 54,346 | 2 | 1 | 1816 |
| Akwesasne (Part) 59 | 1,947 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Akwesasne | 2,562 | 0 | 0 | — |
| South Glengarry | 14,355 | 4 | 4 | 1784 |
| Long Sault | 14,602 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Cornwall in brief
Counted by age, 37% of Cornwall’s homes predate 1961, against 18% in the typical town. All told, the registers hold 2 historic places, one with the highest designation, Inverarden House among them. Its people of the past include Duncan McNaughton (1910), Newsy Lalonde (1887) and Jacob Harold Gallinger (1837). For the rest, 2 historic places is about usual for its size (the median is 1); and the designations ran from 1968 to 1996.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- 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.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about Cornwall’s history
How old are the homes in Cornwall?
Before 1961: 37% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Which places in Cornwall have the highest designation?
Just one: Inverarden House.
What is the oldest building in Cornwall?
By its record, Inverarden House, from 1816 (National Historic Site).
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).