Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.045% of Watford’s homes were built before 1961
Watford has 2.6 times what the typical town has (18%). Victoria Hall / Petrolia Town Hall, 24 km from Watford, heads a list of 7 historic places within 50 km. Petrolia, 24 km away, has the nearest place of the highest rank. John Allan Auld heads a list of 12 people born in Watford before 1914.
Within 50 km of Watford, the dated places belong mostly to the years before Confederation
Places as far as 50 km from Watford, not in it, dated by the first construction year on their records.
The earliest is Fairfield on the Thames in Chatham, begun in 1792. 6 places within 50 km have a date. 3 are older than 1867.
Watford’s area holds 5 top-tier places within 50 km
By designation: 5 National Historic Sites, a heritage railway station and a provincial or municipal listing. The record reaches back to 1792 with Fairfield on the Thames, 41 km away. Victoria Hall / Petrolia Town Hall in Petrolia is the nearest, 24 km away.
The 7 nearest, within 50 km
| Victoria Hall / Petrolia Town HallNational Historic Site · 1887–1890 · 24 km away, in Petrolia |
| ParkhillNational Historic Site · 26 km away, in Parkhill |
| First Commercial Oil FieldNational Historic Site · 1858–1859 · 28 km away, in Enniskillen |
| Battle HillNational Historic Site · 1814 · 33 km away, in Glencoe |
| Fairfield on the ThamesNational Historic Site · 1792–1793 · 41 km away, in Chatham |
| VIA Rail Station, Sarnia, OntarioHeritage Railway Station · 1891–1892 · 42 km away, in Sarnia |
| Elsie-Perrin Williams EstateDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1916 · 48 km away, in Masonville |
Little new building in Watford: 2.6% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Over half of the homes in Watford were already standing by 1981. Watford built little from 2001 to 2015: 5.2% of its homes, where most towns have 15%. Only 16% of Watford’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000, less than the typical town’s 23%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
1853 to 1912: the people Watford gave its past
By Wikipedia’s reach, Frank L. Shaw leads, with 7 articles. 12 people on the record were born here before 1914. Of them all, Charles Janes lived longest: 94 years, until 1983. 9 of the 12 were born in the decades after Confederation.
Everyone born in Watford → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
How Watford compares with 16 towns its size
Towns of 3,900 to 4,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Just these have more: Fort Macleod, New Richmond and Danville. Their median is 0. 13 of them have nothing on the registers.
Watford and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watford | 3,955 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Brooke-Alvinston | 2,557 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Adelaide-Metcalfe | 3,196 | 0 | 0 | — |
Watford in brief
Older stock first: 45% of homes in Watford were standing by 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Of its people of the past, the best known are Frank L. Shaw (1877), George Henry Cowan (1858) and Albert G. Rutherford (1879). Most towns its size have more historic places: the typical one has 0.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- 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 grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- 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 Watford’s history
How many historic places does Watford have on the registers?
Nothing inside Watford; Victoria Hall / Petrolia Town Hall in Petrolia, 24 km away, is the nearest and of the highest rank.
How old are the homes in Watford?
45% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.
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).