National Historic Site · 1875–1876Oxford-on-Rideau Township Hall100 Maplewood Street
Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.01historic place on the registers
History of Kemptville · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Kemptville: 1 historic place of the highest rank
Kemptville’s one place is Oxford-on-Rideau Township Hall, a national historic site begun in 1875. Relative to its size Kemptville has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 74% of Canadian towns. 5 more places on provincial or local lists are counted from Wikidata without pages.
Historic places
1
0.5 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1875
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
18%
typical town: 18%
The map
Where Kemptville’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 1, by tier
1 Highest designations
Federal designations come from Parks Canada’s directory; a province’s or a council’s own listing shows here only when Wikidata holds it and an encyclopedia covers it.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
One place in Kemptville with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
160 historic places within 50 km of Kemptville
At 17 km, Merrickville Blockhouse in Merrickville is the closest. By age, Pointe au Baril leads, from 1758, at 40 km. They are spread over 28 towns, including Centretown, Des Explorateurs and Les Golfs.
The 12 nearest, within 50 km
| Merrickville BlockhouseNational Historic Site · 1832–1834 · 17 km away, in Merrickville |
| Smiths Falls Railway Station (Canadian Northern)National Historic Site · 1912–1915 · 31 km away, in Smiths Falls |
| Smiths Falls Bascule BridgeNational Historic Site · 1912–1914 · 31 km away, in Smiths Falls |
| Prescott Railway Station (Grand Trunk)National Historic Site · 1855–1856 · 33 km away, in Prescott |
| Windmill TowerClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1832–1833 · 33 km away, in Cardinal |
| Battle of the WindmillNational Historic Site · 1838 · 33 km away, in Cardinal |
| Fort WellingtonNational Historic Site · 1813–1815 · 33 km away, in Prescott |
| Pointe au BarilNational Historic Site · 1758–1760 · 40 km away, in Augusta |
| HomewoodNational Historic Site · 1800–1802 · 40 km away, in Augusta |
| Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Carleton Place, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1921–1923 · 41 km away, in Carleton Place |
| Sir Charles Tupper BuildingRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1955–1961 · 43 km away, in Riverside Park - Mooneys Bay |
| CBC BuildingClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1961–1965 · 43 km away, in Riverside Park - Mooneys Bay |
Homes by age
Kemptville is still building: 9.4% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Kemptville’s homes are older than 2001. Kemptville’s largest group of homes, 32%, went up from 1981 to 2000. 24% of Kemptville’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%.
18%
Before 1961
17%
1961–80
32%
1981–2000
24%
2001–15
9.4%
2016–21
KemptvilleTypical 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
Lives begun in Kemptville between 1837 and 1909
Best known is Howard Ferguson, with articles in 8 Wikipedia languages. Counting only births before 1914, there are 11. At 89, William Thompson outlived the rest, dying in 1994. Most of them, 6 of 11, came into the world in the decades after Confederation.
John Fannin
Crawley P. Dake
Alexander Morrison
Alphaeus Patterson
Stewart McClenaghan
Howard Ferguson
Henry Douglas
Henry Black
William Thompson
John Douglas MacLachlan
Des Roche
1800182518501875190019251950
Howard Ferguson1870–1946 · Canadian politician
WT
William Thompson1905–1994 · Canadian cross-country skier
DR
Des Roche1909–1971 · Canadian ice hockey player
John Fannin1837–1904 · Canadian naturalist
Crawley P. Dake1839–1890 · American lawman
AM
Alexander Morrison1851–1930 · Canadian politician
SM
Stewart McClenaghan1866–1944 · Canadian politician
Alphaeus Patterson1856–1931 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Kemptville → 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
Kemptville has the 3rd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 19,600 to 19,900 residents, by places on the registers.
Kemptville1
Only North End and Kirkland have more. Their median is 0. For 11, the registers list nothing.
Neighbours
Kemptville and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kemptville | 19,733 | 1 | 1 | 1875 |
| North Gower - Kars | 5,439 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Osgoode - Vernon | 6,398 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Kemptville in brief
In Kemptville, 18% of homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 1 historic place, one with the highest designation, with Oxford-on-Rideau Township Hall first. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just 2 have more historic places. Of its people of the past, the best known are Howard Ferguson (1870), William Thompson (1905) and Des Roche (1909). The rest is about typical: its one place was designated in 1984.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
- 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 tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
- 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.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Provincial and municipal listings here come from Wikidata alone, since the provinces’ own registers can’t be reused; a listing needs an encyclopedia article to get a page.
Questions about Kemptville’s history
Which places in Kemptville have the highest designation?
It is Oxford-on-Rideau Township Hall.
What is the oldest building in Kemptville?
Oxford-on-Rideau Township Hall (National Historic Site): the first construction date on its record is 1875.
Why might a heritage building in Kemptville be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 5 more listings in Kemptville, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
How old are the homes in Kemptville?
Before 1961: 18% 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).