Erb-Kumpf House · Photo: Paul Reichert · CC BY-SA 3.0
4historic places on the registers
History of Waterloo · Canada’s heritage registers
Canada’s registers list 4 historic places in Waterloo
Of Waterloo’s dated places, Brubacher House is the oldest, from 1850. Waterloo has 0.3 for every 10,000 people, a higher rate than 72% of Canadian towns. Behind these stand 28 more local or provincial listings that only Wikidata records. On the list: 4 provincial or municipal listings.
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
4
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1850
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
9.6%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Waterloo’s heritage in 4 photos, and 2 pictures of its past
The photos cover every place on Waterloo’s registers. Two worth a look first: Erb-Kumpf House and Huether Hotel. 4 different photographers shared them on Wikimedia Commons.
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 Waterloo from 1899 to 1910
Oldest first: 2 old photographs of the town. Every picture opens full screen, credit and all.
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
The making of Waterloo, from 1804
The founding of Waterloo came in 1804. It has been 222 years since then. The date Wikidata keeps for Waterloo is May 27, 1857; whether it was a founding or a legal act, the entry leaves open.
The name of Waterloo honours Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle during the War of the Seventh Coalition. The name Waterloo dates from 1833. The municipality of Waterloo was incorporated as a village in 1857.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 4, by tier
4 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.
Provincial and local listings
On provincial and local lists in Waterloo: 4 places
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. The oldest, Brubacher House, dates from 1850; the newest from 1931. Each one opens its own page.
New homes stand out in Waterloo: 11% from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Waterloo’s homes are older than 2001. Before 1961: just 9.6% of Waterloo’s homes, where most towns have 18%. Waterloo’s largest group of homes, 34%, went up from 1981 to 2000.
9.6%
Before 1961
23%
1961–80
34%
1981–2000
22%
2001–15
11%
2016–21
WaterlooTypical 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
Waterloo’s 9 natives of the years before 1914
The line ends with Alson Weber (1910). By Wikipedia’s reach, Isaiah Bowman leads, with 15 articles. Longest lived was Alson Weber, 95 years in all (2005). It starts with Walter Bowman, born in 1870.
Walter Bowman
Edward F. Seagram
Isaiah Bowman
Rowley Young
George J. Hatfield
Jennie L. S. Simpson
George Massecar
Norbert Mueller
Alson Weber
18501875190019251950
IB
Isaiah Bowman1878–1950 · American geographer
NM
Norbert Mueller1906–1956 · Canadian ice hockey player
WB
Walter Bowman1870–1948 · Canadian soccer player
George J. Hatfield1887–1953 · American politician
Edward F. Seagram1873–1937 · Canadian politician
Rowley Young1883–1961 · Canadian ice hockey player
JS
Jennie L. S. Simpson1894–1977 · Canadian-American botanist
AW
Alson Weber1910–2005 · Canadian volleyball player
Everyone born in Waterloo → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Inside Waterloo there are 4 historic places. Isaiah Bowman (1878), Norbert Mueller (1906) and Walter Bowman (1870) lead its people of the past. Few of its homes are old, 9.6% before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. For the rest, 4 historic places is about usual for its size (the median is 6).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
•
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. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about Waterloo’s history
How many historic places does Waterloo have on the registers?
4 historic places inside Waterloo, by the federal, Québec and Wikidata-known registers.
What is the oldest building in Waterloo?
Brubacher House (Designated heritage property (part IV)): the first construction date on its record is 1850.
How old are the homes in Waterloo?
9.6% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.
Why might a heritage building in Waterloo be missing here?
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; 28 further listings in Waterloo 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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