LocalOntario Heritage Trust easement · 1846Church of Our Lady of the AssumptionPhoto: PDru2014 from Detroit, United States · CC BY 2.0 · Commons file
Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.01historic place on the registers
History of River West · Canada’s heritage registers
An older town: 55% of River West’s homes predate 1961
River West has 3.2 times what the typical town has (18%). On the registers, the town counts 1 historic place. Relative to its size the figure is 0.7 per 10,000 residents, more than in 77% of Canadian towns. It is Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, a ontario heritage trust easement begun in 1846.
Historic places
1
0.7 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
1
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1846
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
55%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Places to see in River West
The photo shows Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, the one place on River West’s registers.
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.
The map
Where River West’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 1, by tier
1 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
One local listing in River West
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
The heritage closest to River West: Dominion House, at 1.6 km
They are 5 provincial or municipal listings and 2 National Historic Sites. Sandwich, City Centre and Walkerville hold most of them, among 3 towns. François Bâby House, 1.7 km off, is the nearest of 2 top-tier places.
The 7 nearest, within 5 km
| Dominion HouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1880 · 1.6 km away, in Sandwich |
| François Bâby HouseNational Historic Site · 1811–1812 · 1.7 km away, in City Centre |
| Duff Baby HouseOntario Heritage Trust property · 1798 · 1.8 km away, in Sandwich |
| Essex County Court HouseDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1855 · 1.8 km away, in Sandwich |
| Mt. Zion Church of God in ChristDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1939 · 2.1 km away, in City Centre |
| Sandwich First Baptist ChurchNational Historic Site · 1851–1852 · 2.6 km away, in Sandwich |
| Willistead ManorDesignated heritage property (part IV) · 1906 · 3.9 km away, in Walkerville |
Homes by age
Little new building in River West: 2% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
River West built little from 2001 to 2015: 4.1% of its homes, where most towns have 15%. Only 10% of River West’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000, less than the typical town’s 23%. More than half of River West’s housing predates 1961.
55%
Before 1961
25%
1961–80
10%
1981–2000
4.1%
2001–15
2%
2016–21
River WestTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
River West has the 4th most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 13,800 to 14,100 residents, by places on the registers.
River West1
Only Sainte-Marie, Sillery and Sandy Hill have more. Their median is 0. 11 of them have nothing on the registers.
Neighbours
River West and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River West | 13,940 | 1 | 0 | 1846 |
| City Centre | 10,269 | 2 | 1 | 1811 |
| Sandwich | 14,110 | 4 | 1 | 1798 |
| South Central | 10,392 | 0 | 0 | — |
| South Cameron | 11,804 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Walkerville | 19,541 | 1 | 0 | 1906 |
| South Walkerville | 6,129 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
River West in brief
Housing in River West includes 55% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. There are 1 historic place in all. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just 3 have more historic places.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
- The tiers. National Historic Sites and the most protected buildings form the top tier; recognized federal buildings, stations and lighthouses the second; provincial and municipal listings the third.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about River West’s history
How old are the homes in River West?
55% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.
How many historic places does River West have on the registers?
The registers list 1 historic place inside River West.
What is the oldest building in River West?
By its record, Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, from 1846 (Ontario Heritage Trust easement).
Why might a heritage building in River West be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 3 more listings in River West are known through Wikidata alone, so they are counted, not paged.
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).