TopNational Historic Site · 1873–1874Former Port Perry Town Hall302 Queen StreetPhoto: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
Former Port Perry Town Hall · Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 4.01historic place on the registers
History of Port Perry · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Port Perry: 1 historic place of the highest rank
Port Perry’s one place is Former Port Perry Town Hall, a national historic site begun in 1873. Wikidata’s date for the municipality is January 1, 1974; it may record a founding, an incorporation or an amalgamation. Port Perry has 0.4 for every 10,000 people, a higher rate than 73% of Canadian towns.
Historic places
1
0.4 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Oldest building
1873
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
25%
typical town: 18%
The map
Where Port Perry’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
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.
Highest designations
One place in Port Perry 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
The registers find 16 places within 50 km of Port Perry
The record reaches back to 1825 with Sharon Temple, 42 km away. At 21 km, Leaskdale Manse in Uxbridge is the closest. They belong to 12 towns, chiefly Aurora, Markham Village and Newmarket.
The 12 nearest, within 50 km
| Leaskdale ManseNational Historic Site · 1886–1887 · 21 km away, in Uxbridge |
| ParkwoodNational Historic Site · 1915–1941 · 25 km away, in Oshawa |
| Thistle Ha' FarmNational Historic Site · 1840–1871 · 25 km away, in Pickering |
| Former Bowmanville Boys Training School/Camp 30National Historic Site · 1924–1941 · 30 km away, in Bowmanville |
| Old Stone ChurchNational Historic Site · 1840–1854 · 37 km away, in Beaverton |
| Former Canadian National Railway Station, Markham, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1871–1872 · 38 km away, in Markham Village |
| Markham Village Town HallDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1881 · 39 km away, in Markham Village |
| The BriarsOntario Heritage Trust easement · 42 km away, in Keswick |
| Sharon TempleNational Historic Site · 1825–1832 · 42 km away, in East Gwillimbury |
| Canadian National Railway Station, Unionville, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1871–1872 · 43 km away, in Unionville |
| Former Canadian National Railway Station, Newmarket, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1900–1901 · 44 km away, in Newmarket |
| Old Newmarket Town Hall and CourthouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1883 · 44 km away, in Newmarket |
Homes by age
Old houses stand out in Port Perry: 25% predate 1961, where most towns have 18%
From 2016 on, Port Perry built only 2.9% of its homes; the typical town built 4.1%. The busiest building years in Port Perry were from 1981 to 2000, which account for 30% of today’s homes. Half of the homes standing in Port Perry today were built before 1981.
25%
Before 1961
28%
1961–80
30%
1981–2000
14%
2001–15
2.9%
2016–21
Port PerryTypical 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 that started in Port Perry, 1857–1900
Of them all, Sinclair Alexander Whittaker lived longest: 86 years, until 1974. Counting only births before 1914, there are 5. 7 Wikipedias cover John Ross Roach, the most of anyone here. The decades after Confederation gave 4 of the 5.
J. F. Paxton
Sinclair Alexander Whittaker
Jimmy Frise
William Gilbert Weir
John Ross Roach
18501875190019251950
John Ross Roach1900–1973 · Canadian ice hockey player
WW
William Gilbert Weir1896–1971 · Canadian politician
J. F. Paxton1857–1936 · Canadian ice hockey administrator
Jimmy Frise1891–1948 · Canadian comic strip cartoonist
SW
Sinclair Alexander Whittaker1888–1974 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Port Perry → 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
Port Perry has the 3rd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 23,500 to 24,300 residents, by places on the registers.
Port Perry1
Just these have more: Brockville and Owen Sound. The typical town its size has 1. 8 of them have nothing on the registers.
Neighbours
Port Perry and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Perry | 23,928 | 1 | 1 | 1873 |
| Uxbridge | 22,618 | 2 | 1 | 1886 |
In brief
Port Perry in brief
Counted by age, 25% of Port Perry’s homes predate 1961, against 18% in the typical town. All told, the registers hold 1 historic place, one with the highest designation, Former Port Perry Town Hall among them. Just 2 towns of its size, out of 16, have more historic places. Among the lives from its past: John Ross Roach (1900), William Gilbert Weir (1896) and J. F. Paxton (1857). 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
- Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
- People and events. National historic persons carry no place in the open file. They appear on a town’s page when born there (same name, same birth and death years) or when a historic place inside it carries their name and its record names them with their dates; national historic events don’t appear.
- The federal register. The federal list is complete and open: Parks Canada’s directory for the designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places for what each one is and why it matters.
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
- 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.
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
Questions about Port Perry’s history
Which places in Port Perry have the highest designation?
Former Port Perry Town Hall.
What is the oldest building in Port Perry?
Former Port Perry Town Hall — its record dates it to 1873 (National Historic Site).
How old are the homes in Port Perry?
25% 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).