St. Thomas City Hall · Photo: Groovy photos · CC BY-SA 3.0
4historic places on the registers
History of St. Thomas · Canada’s heritage registers
St. Thomas has 4 historic places on the registers, one in the top tier
On the list: a Recognized Federal Heritage Building, a heritage railway station and a provincial or municipal listing. The typical town has 18% of its homes from before 1961; here it is 33%. Old St. Thomas Church, begun in 1824, is the oldest by its record. Measured against its size, St. Thomas’s 0.8 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 78% of Canadian towns.
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1824
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
33%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Then and today: St. Thomas in 3 photos and 2 old pictures
3 of the places on St. Thomas’s heritage registers are pictured here; the others keep their register record. To start: St. Thomas City Hall, and Old St. Thomas Church. They come from 3 photographers.
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. Thomas from 1905 to 1910
In order of date: one old photograph of the town, then the oldest view of one of its historic places. Hover a dot for its date; tap a picture to see it full screen.
1890190019101920193019401950Confederation 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 it began
St. Thomas through its dates, from 1810
Canada Southern Railway Station, the earliest station on record, opened in 1873. On Wikidata the municipality of St. Thomas dates to 1810, with no word on whether that was its founding or a later incorporation. On paper, St. Thomas became a city in 1881.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 4, by tier
1 Highest designations2 Other federal designations1 Provincial and local listings
Most entries are federal, from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations; local listings outside Québec are known only through Wikidata items with an article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.
Highest designations
One place in St. Thomas with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Here that means a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. They date from 1871 (“Former Canada Southern Railway Station, St. Thomas, Ontario”) to 1901. Each one opens its own page.
New homes stand out in St. Thomas: 7.9% from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%
St. Thomas built little from 1981 to 2000: 17% of its homes, where most towns have 23%. Half of the homes standing in St. Thomas today were built before 1981. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up 25% of St. Thomas’s, about the typical 27%.
33%
Before 1961
25%
1961–80
17%
1981–2000
18%
2001–15
7.9%
2016–21
St. ThomasTypical 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
St. Thomas’s person of national historic significance, and others
The earliest is John Burnham, born in 1842. At the other end is James Alexander McBain, from 1910. Before 1914, 19 births here made the record. Dell Henderson is the most written about, in 13 languages.
John Burnham
James Henry Coyne
Charles Oaks Ermatinger
Bill Hunter
Peter McGibbon
Charles Edmund Raven
James E. Murray
Dell Henderson
Jack Graney
Norman Alexander McLarty
Walter A. Bell
Norma Ford Walker
Charles Millard
Mitchell Hepburn
Sperrin N.F. Chant
Vernon Charles Knowles
Graham Spry
Philip Francis Pocock
James Alexander McBain
1800182518501875190019251950
Dell Henderson1883–1956 · Canadian actor, writer and director
JM
James E. Murray1876–1961 · Canadian born American politician
Mitchell Hepburn1896–1953 · Canadian politician
WB
Walter A. Bell1889–1969 · Canadian geologist
PP
Philip Francis Pocock1906–1984 · Catholic archbishop
Norman Alexander McLarty1889–1945 · Canadian politician
James Henry Coyne1849–1942 · On Canada’s list since 1945 · Canadian lawyer and historian
BH
Bill Hunter1855– · Baseball catcher
Everyone born in St. Thomas → 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.
The 2021 Census dates 33% of St. Thomas’s homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 4 historic places, one with the highest designation, led by St. Thomas City Hall. Dell Henderson (1883), James E. Murray (1876) and Mitchell Hepburn (1896) are the best known of its historic lives. The rest is about typical: 4 historic places is about usual for its size (the median is 2); and the designations ran from 1984 to 1992.
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.
•
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 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.
•
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.
•
Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
•
The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
Questions about St. Thomas’s history
How old are the homes in St. Thomas?
33% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
Which places in St. Thomas have the highest designation?
Just one: St. Thomas City Hall.
What is the oldest building in St. Thomas?
Old St. Thomas Church — its record dates it to 1824 (Ontario Heritage Trust easement).
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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