Photo: Skytrain3514 at English Wikipedia · Public domainBeyond Thornbury’s limits, 9 historic places within 50 km
Collingwood, 17 km from Thornbury, has the nearest place of the highest rank. 2 people on record were born in Thornbury before 1914, Nelson Seymour Lougheed the earliest.
6 places of national importance within 50 km of Thornbury
Among them are 4 National Historic Sites, 2 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and 2 provincial or municipal listings. Closest of all is Lighttower, in Collingwood, 14 km off. The record reaches back to 1649 with Fort Sainte Marie II, 37 km away.
The 9 nearest, within 50 km
| LighttowerClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1857–1859 · 14 km away, in Collingwood |
| Federal BuildingClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1913–1916 · 18 km away, in Collingwood |
| Collingwood Downtown Heritage Conservation DistrictHeritage conservation district · 18 km away, in Collingwood |
| ClaverleighNational Historic Site · 1871–1872 · 37 km away, in Stayner |
| Fort Sainte Marie IINational Historic Site · 1649–1650 · 37 km away, in Tiny |
| Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Owen Sound, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1946–1948 · 41 km away, in Owen Sound |
| Billy Bishop Boyhood HomeNational Historic Site · 1884–1885 · 41 km away, in Owen Sound |
| Glengarry LandingNational Historic Site · 1814 · 43 km away, in Springwater |
| St. James on-the-LinesOntario Heritage Trust easement · 1840 · 48 km away, in Penetanguishene |
Around Thornbury, within 50 km, most dated places come from the years before Confederation
Places as far as 50 km from Thornbury, not in it, dated by the first construction year on their records.
8 places within 50 km have a date. 4 predate Confederation. Oldest of all: Fort Sainte Marie II, Tiny, 1649.
New homes stand out in Thornbury: 16% from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Thornbury’s homes are older than 2001. Thornbury’s largest group of homes, 23%, went up from 1981 to 2000. 22% of Thornbury’s homes were built from 2001 to 2015, more than the typical town’s 15%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
How Thornbury compares with 16 towns its size
Towns of 11,100 to 11,200 residents, by places on the registers.
Ahead of it: Smiths Falls, Cabbagetown-South St.James Town and Penetanguishene. Their median is 0. 13 of them have nothing on the registers.
Thornbury and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornbury | 11,162 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Collingwood | 28,366 | 3 | 2 | 1857 |
Thornbury in brief
Housing in Thornbury includes 18% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Most towns its size have more historic places: the typical one has 0. Beyond that, people of its past such as Nelson Seymour Lougheed (1882) and Charles Alexander Mitchell (1891).
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.
- 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.
- Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
- 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. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Questions about Thornbury’s history
How many historic places does Thornbury have on the registers?
Nothing inside Thornbury; Lighttower in Collingwood, 14 km away, is the nearest and of the highest rank.
How old are the homes in Thornbury?
The 2021 Census dates 18% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical 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).