Elizabeth Cottage · Photo: Elena Tatiana Chis · CC BY-SA 4.0
95historic places on the registers
History of Kingston · Canada’s heritage registers
Kingston keeps a building from 1673: Fort Frontenac
Inside Kingston the registers count 95 historic places; 38 are top designations. For its size this is rich ground: 6.4 per 10,000 residents, ahead of 96% of Canadian towns. Counted by designation, there are 55 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, a heritage railway station and a provincial or municipal listing. A further 2 sit a short way past the edge of town.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1673
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
22%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Past and present Kingston: 29 photos, 16 old views
29 of the places on Kingston’s heritage registers are pictured here; the others keep their register record. Old pictures of 14 places in Kingston fill their own pages. Photos show 21 of Kingston’s places with the highest designations.
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
Pictures of Kingston from 1682 to 1923
Oldest first: 11 old photographs of the town and the oldest views of 5 of its historic places. A tap on any picture opens it with its credit.
170017501800185019001950New FranceBefore ConfederationConfederation to 1900Boom yearsThe wars and betweenAfter the war
Public 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.
How old
In Kingston, the years before Confederation left the most behind
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
New France before 17601
British North America 1760–186648
After Confederation 1867–191318
Wars and Depression 1914–194518
Since 1946 1946 on7
49 of the 92 dated places are older than Confederation.
How it began
Back to 1673: Kingston’s first record
On Wikidata the municipality of Kingston dates to 1673, with no word on whether that was its founding or a later incorporation. Kingston was incorporated as a town in 1838 and a city in 1846. The railway reached Kingston in 1856.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings400 m from Fort Frederick Martello Tower
4 of 38within 400 m of Fort Frederick Martello Tower, the heart of the town’s history
Dots open their places’ pages; hover first to read the name.
The 95, by tier
38 Highest designations56 Other federal designations1 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. 63 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Highest designations
Kingston’s 38 top designations
Here that means 20 National Historic Sites and 18 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. They date from 1673 (Fort Frontenac) to 1936. Each one opens its own page.
They were designated between 1988 and 2013. Here that means 55 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and a heritage railway station. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Streets with three or more places on the registers, by the address each gives.
King Street West13 on the registers · 5 top designations
Ontario Street10 on the registers · 6 top designations
Fort Henry Drive5 on the registers · 2 top designations
Valour Drive5 on the registers · 1 top designation
Bath Road4 on the registers
Point Frederick Drive4 on the registers
Verite Avenue4 on the registers
Passchendale Drive3 on the registers · 1 top designation
Amiens Avenue3 on the registers
The registers give an address for 83 of the 95 places.
What’s designated
49% of Kingston’s historic places are forts and military buildings
Across Canada churches and religious buildings are 17% of the designated places; here only 3%. Second on the list: houses, 12 of them. At the head of the list: Fort Frontenac and Kingston Navy Yard.
Forts and military buildings47
Houses12
Public buildings9
Churches and religious buildings3
Mills, shops and works3
Theatres, museums and memorials2
Stations, lighthouses and bridges2
Other places17
Kinds read from each place’s name and the functions its register gives; a building keeps the kind it was built as.
Provincial and local listings
On a provincial or local list in Kingston: one place
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
Fort Frontenac went on the registers first, in 1923. In 1990 alone, 20 were designated. 3 have been added since 2011.
Just outside
Just outside Kingston
Places the registers give to the town from within 5 km of its edge, nearest first.
Just outside Kingston: 2
Shoal TowerNational Historic Site · 100 m outside the town
Rideau CanalNational Historic Site · 600 m outside the town
Homes by age
The biggest share of Kingston’s homes dates from 1961 to 1980: 31%
Like the typical town (18%), Kingston has 22% of its homes from before 1961. From 2016 on, Kingston built 5% of its homes, near the typical 4.1%. Half of the homes standing in Kingston today were built before 1981.
22%
Before 1961
31%
1961–80
26%
1981–2000
16%
2001–15
5%
2016–21
KingstonTypical 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
Kingston’s past in lives: 5 nationally designated
The decades after Confederation gave 49 of the 98. At 93, Benjamin Allmark outlived the rest, dying in 2004. Mickey Blake closes the list, born in 1912. In 1703 came the earliest, Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne. The 20 best known are on the timeline.
Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne
Oliver Mowat
John Stoughton Dennis
Charles Sangster
Richard John Cartwright
Agnes Maule Machar
Grant Allen
George John Romanes
Hugh John Macdonald
Elizabeth Forbes
Henry Pellatt
Alice Amelia Chown
Samuel Alfred Mitchell
George MacFarlane
Marty Walsh
George Richardson
Norman L. Bowen
Ken Randall
Scotty Davidson
Lorne Carr-Harris
170017501800185019001950
Grant Allen1848–1899 · Canada born British science writer, novelist and scientist
Norman L. Bowen1887–1956 · Canadian geologist
GR
George John Romanes1848–1894 · British evolutionary biologist
Elizabeth Forbes1859–1912 · Canadian artist
OM
Oliver Mowat1820–1903 · On Canada’s list since 1934 · Canadian lawyer and politician
Lorne Carr-Harris1899–1981 · Canadian-British ice hockey player
SM
Samuel Alfred Mitchell1874–1960 · American astronomer
Hugh John Macdonald1850–1929 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Kingston → 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.
Towns its size
Kingston has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 128,700 to 174,500 residents, by places on the registers.
Inside Kingston there are 95 historic places, 38 with the highest designation, led by Fort Frontenac. Before 1961: 22% of its homes, against 18% in the typical town. Around Fort Frederick Martello Tower, 4 of the places of the highest designation lie within 400 m. Only one of the 16 towns nearest its size has more historic places.
On King Street West alone there are 13 historic places. Most of its dated places come from the years before Confederation: 48 of 92. Among the lives from its past: Grant Allen (1848), Norman L. Bowen (1887) and George John Romanes (1848).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
•
People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
•
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.
•
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 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 federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
•
The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
Questions about Kingston’s history
What is the oldest building in Kingston?
Fort Frontenac — its record dates it to 1673 (National Historic Site).
Which places in Kingston have the highest designation?
These: Fort Frontenac, Kingston Navy Yard, Point Frederick Buildings, War of 1812 Shipwrecks, Fort Henry and Kingston Fortifications, and 32 more.
Why might a heritage building in Kingston be missing here?
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; 14 further listings in Kingston show up only as Wikidata numbers.
How old are the homes in Kingston?
22% 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.
1682
c. 1815
1839–1842
c. 1880
1880s
c. 1891
1898
c. 1898
c. 1898
c. 1898
c. 1900
c. 1900
c. 1907
c. 1912
c. 1912
1923–1924
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