Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0History around Hamilton: 7 designated places within 25 km
From Hamilton, look 9.5 km away, to Cobourg, for the nearest place of the highest designation. Of the 3 people born in Hamilton before 1914, Letitia Youmans came first. Wikidata dates the municipality to 1791, which may be its founding, its incorporation or a later merger.
10 km from Hamilton: “Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Cobourg, Ontario”, the nearest on the registers
They stand in 4 towns, Port Hope, Cobourg and Alnwick/Haldimand among them. Victoria Hall / Cobourg Town Hall, 11 km away, leads 3 places with the top designation. 7 places lie within 25 km.
The 7 nearest, within 25 km
| Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Cobourg, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1910–1912 · 10 km away, in Cobourg |
| Victoria Hall / Cobourg Town HallNational Historic Site · 1856–1861 · 11 km away, in Cobourg |
| St. Mark's ChurchDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1822 · 13 km away, in Port Hope |
| Capitol TheatreDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 13 km away, in Port Hope |
| Former Grand Trunk Railway (Canadian National Railways) Station, Port Hope, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1856–1857 · 14 km away, in Port Hope |
| Barnum HouseNational Historic Site · 1820–1821 · 15 km away, in Alnwick/Haldimand |
| Serpent MoundsNational Historic Site · 18 km away, in Otonabee-South Monaghan |
Within 25 km of Hamilton, the record goes back to 1820
Out to 25 km from Hamilton, outside the town: each place by when its record says building began.
The bars count 5 dated places within 25 km. 4 are older than 1867. The oldest is Barnum House in Alnwick/Haldimand, from 1820.
27% of Hamilton’s homes are older than 1961, against a usual 18%
Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up just 11% of Hamilton’s, against 15% in the typical town. The busiest building years in Hamilton were from 1981 to 2000, which account for 31% of today’s homes. New building in Hamilton runs at the usual pace: 3.7% of homes from 2016–21, the typical town 4.1%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
People of Hamilton’s past, one of them designated by Canada
The oldest birth on the record is Letitia Youmans’s, in 1827. Wikidata and Wikipedia agree on 3 births here before 1914. Longest lived was William Renwick Riddell, 93 years in all (1945). Fame, by Wikipedia: Mina Benson Hubbard first, in 7 languages.
Everyone born in Hamilton → Born before 1914. Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against Wikipedia; national historic persons from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, matched by name and life years.
Hamilton and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | 11,810 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Cobourg | 22,529 | 2 | 1 | 1856 |
| Port Hope | 18,446 | 4 | 1 | 1822 |
| Alnwick/Haldimand | 8,197 | 1 | 1 | 1820 |
Hamilton in brief
Hamilton’s homes from before 1961 come to 27%, against 18% in the typical town. Its history in lives: Mina Benson Hubbard (1870), William Renwick Riddell (1852) and Letitia Youmans (1827). Everything else is close to the norm: as with most towns its size, no historic place is listed.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about Hamilton’s history
How many historic places does Hamilton have on the registers?
None inside Hamilton yet. The nearest is Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Cobourg, Ontario, 10 km away in Cobourg.
When did Hamilton become a municipality?
The date Wikidata holds for Hamilton is 1791, whether founding, incorporation or merger.
How old are the homes in Hamilton?
Before 1961: 27% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
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).