St. Marys Junction Railway Station (Grand Trunk) · Photo: Robert Taylor from Stirling, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0
2historic places on the registers
History of St. Marys · Canada’s heritage registers
In St. Marys, 38% of homes go back before 1961
St. Marys’s share is 2.1 times the typical 18%. Inside the town the registers count 2 historic places; one is a top designation. St. Marys Junction Railway Station (Grand Trunk), begun in 1858, is the oldest by its record. Designations here include a provincial or municipal listing.
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
St. Marys in old pictures
The past in one picture: the oldest view of one of its historic places. It opens full screen with a tap.
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 it began
1844 and after: St. Marys’s milestones
On the open record, St. Marys as a municipality goes back to 1844, though that may be a charter rather than a first settlement. On paper, St. Marys became a village in 1854. Its oldest recorded station, St. Marys Junction Railway Station, dates from 1858.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsProvincial and local listings
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 2, by tier
1 Highest designations1 Provincial and local listings
Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists the places the Government of Canada has recognized; outside Québec, provincial and municipal listings come only through Wikidata, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
The highest rank in St. Marys: one place
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Designated heritage property (part IV)St. MarysPhoto: Robert Taylor from Stirling, ON, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Commons file
Around the town
Within 25 km of St. Marys, one top designation
Closest of all is “Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Stratford, Ontario”, in Stratford, 18 km off. The radius of 25 km holds 3. By age, Gallery Stratford leads, from 1883, at 20 km.
Stratford City HallNational Historic Site · 1898–1900 · 18 km away, in Stratford
Gallery StratfordDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1883 · 20 km away, in Stratford
Homes by age
A growing town: 8.1% of St. Marys’s homes went up from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
18% of St. Marys’s homes were built from 2001 to 2015, more than the typical town’s 15%. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up just 17% of St. Marys’s, against 27% in the typical town. More than half of St. Marys’s housing predates 1981.
38%
Before 1961
17%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
18%
2001–15
8.1%
2016–21
St. MarysTypical 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
Born in St. Marys before the First World War: 17 lives
The widest known is Alexander Grant: 7 Wikipedia editions. It starts with Gilbert Howard McIntyre, born in 1852. James Elisha Brown closes the list, born in 1913. Of the 17, 13 were born in the decades after Confederation.
Gilbert Howard McIntyre
William Forrester
Hugh Boulton Morphy
David Wilson Beaubier
Nora Clench
Rapley Holmes
Fred Sanderson
James H. Sinclair
Alexander Grant
Thomas Howard Fraleigh
Riley Hern
Kate Rice
Pete Muldoon
Alexander Douglas Turnbull
Milt Dunnell
Gordon Bell
James Elisha Brown
18501875190019251950
AG
Alexander Grant1874–1946 · Canadian track and field athlete
Riley Hern1880–1929 · Ice hockey goaltender from Canada
Kate Rice1882–1963 · Canadian prospector
MD
Milt Dunnell1905–2008 · Canadian sportswriter
James H. Sinclair1871–1943 · American politician
Pete Muldoon1887–1929 · Canadian ice hockey coach
WF
William Forrester1855–1926 · Canadian politician
Nora Clench1867–1938 · Canadian musician
Everyone born in St. Marys → 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
St. Marys has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 8,200 to 8,300 residents, by places on the registers.
Before 1961: 38% of St. Marys’s homes, against 18% in the typical town. There are 2 historic places in all, one with the highest designation; St. Marys Junction Railway Station (Grand Trunk) heads them. Just one town of its size, out of 16, has more historic places. Alexander Grant (1874), Riley Hern (1880) and Kate Rice (1882) are the best known of its historic lives. Beyond that, its one place was designated in 1973.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
•
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 grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
•
Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
•
The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
•
Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
Questions about St. Marys’s history
How old are the homes in St. Marys?
The 2021 Census dates 38% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Which places in St. Marys have the highest designation?
Just one: St. Marys Junction Railway Station (Grand Trunk).
What is the oldest building in St. Marys?
By its record, St. Marys Junction Railway Station (Grand Trunk), from 1858 (National Historic Site).
Why might a heritage building in St. Marys be missing here?
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; 22 further listings in St. Marys show up only as Wikidata numbers.
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.
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