LocalDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1881West Montrose Covered BridgePhoto: Terri Caissie · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
West Montrose Covered Bridge · Photo: Terri Caissie · CC BY-SA 3.01historic place on the registers
History of Elmira · Canada’s heritage registers
Canada’s registers list 1 historic place in Elmira
West Montrose Covered Bridge, from 1881, is Elmira’s designated heritage property (part iv). Wikidata dates the municipality to 1798, which may be its founding, its incorporation or a later merger. Relative to its size Elmira has 0.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of Canadian towns. Behind these stand 7 more local or provincial listings that only Wikidata records.
Historic places
1
0.3 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
1
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1881
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
23%
typical town: 18%
The map
Where Elmira’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Dots open their places’ pages; hover first to read the name.
The 1, by tier
1 Provincial and local listings
The federal directory kept by Parks Canada supplies most of these places; provincial and municipal lists outside Québec aren’t open data, so only the ones Wikidata documents with an article appear.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Provincial and local listings
On a provincial or local list in Elmira: one place
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
Near Elmira, within 10 km: one place of national rank
Brubacher House in Waterloo is the nearest, 8.5 km away. Among them are 4 provincial or municipal listings and a National Historic Site. All told, 5 places are within 10 km.
The 5 nearest, within 10 km
| Brubacher HouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1850 · 8.5 km away, in Waterloo |
| Huether HotelDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 9 km away, in Waterloo |
| Elizabeth Ziegler Public SchoolDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1931 · 9.3 km away, in Waterloo |
| Erb-Kumpf HouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 9.7 km away, in Waterloo |
| WoodsideNational Historic Site · 1853–1854 · 9.8 km away, in Bridgeport East |
Homes by age
A growing town: 9.8% of Elmira’s homes went up from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Elmira’s homes are older than 2001. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 28% of Elmira’s, against 15% in the typical town. 23% of Elmira’s homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town.
23%
Before 1961
24%
1961–80
16%
1981–2000
28%
2001–15
9.8%
2016–21
ElmiraTypical 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
13 lives that began in Elmira before 1914
Longest lived was Daniel H. Kress, 94 years in all (1956). It starts with Isaac Erb Bowman, born in 1832. Most of them, 7 of 13, came into the world in the decades after Confederation. Carl Klinck closes the list, born in 1908.
Isaac Erb Bowman
Valentine Ratz
Dilman Kinsey Erb
Daniel H. Kress
Charles Martin Bowman
Conrad Weidenhammer
William George Weichel
William Daum Euler
John Howard Forester
François Charles Archile Jeanneret
Oscar Weichel
Jesse B. Martin
Carl Klinck
1800182518501875190019251950
William Daum Euler1875–1961 · Canadian politician
Daniel H. Kress1862–1956 · Canadian physician, anti-smoking activist, Seventh-day Adventist miss…
William George Weichel1870–1949 · Canadian politician
OW
Oscar Weichel1894–1968 · Canadian politician
Isaac Erb Bowman1832–1897 · Canadian politician
VR
Valentine Ratz1848–1924 · Canadian politician
Dilman Kinsey Erb1857–1936 · Canadian politician
Charles Martin Bowman1863–1932 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Elmira → 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
Elmira and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmira | 31,382 | 1 | 0 | 1881 |
| Bridgeport North | 2,858 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Waterloo | 142,450 | 4 | 0 | 1850 |
| Bridgeport East | 3,903 | 1 | 1 | 1853 |
| Fairfield | 3,497 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Mt. Hope Huron Park | 5,174 | 1 | 0 | 1897 |
| Central Frederick | 5,895 | 1 | 0 | 1853 |
In brief
Elmira in brief
The 2021 Census dates 23% of Elmira’s homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 1 historic place. William Daum Euler (1875), Daniel H. Kress (1862) and William George Weichel (1870) lead its people of the past. The other figures are unremarkable: it has one historic place, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 0).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
Questions about Elmira’s history
How many historic places does Elmira have on the registers?
1 historic place in Elmira, from Canada’s heritage registers.
What is the oldest building in Elmira?
West Montrose Covered Bridge (Designated heritage property (part IV)): the first construction date on its record is 1881.
Why might a heritage building in Elmira be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 7 more listings in Elmira are known through Wikidata alone, so they are counted, not paged.
How old are the homes in Elmira?
23% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian 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.
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).