TopNational Historic Site · 1716–1915Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xaviercorner of River Road and Riverfront RoadPhoto: Edgar Gariépy · Public domain · Commons file
Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier · Photo: Edgar Gariépy · Public domain3historic places on the registers
History of Kahnawake · Canada’s heritage registers
Kahnawake keeps a building from 1716: Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier
The registers list 3 historic places inside Kahnawake, every one with the highest designation. Relative to its size the figure is 2.7 per 10,000 residents, more than in 89% of Canadian towns.
Historic places
3
2.7 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
3
National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements
Oldest building
1716
the first construction date on its record
In pictures
All 3 top-tier places in Kahnawake, pictured
To start: Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier, and Fort St-Louis. All of Kahnawake’s designated places are pictured. Old pictures of 2 places in Kahnawake fill their own pages.
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
Kahnawake between 1670 and 1910
In order of date: 4 old photographs of the town, then the oldest views of 2 of its historic places. Tap any picture to see it full screen.
c. 1670
c. 1860
1907
c. 1910
c. 1910
c. 1910Public 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.
The map
Where Kahnawake’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations400 m from Fort St-Louis
3 of 3within 400 m of Fort St-Louis, the heart of the town’s history
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 3, by tier
3 Highest designations
Two open registers meet here: Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations and Québec’s heritage register, which records both provincial classements and municipal citations.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
3 places in Kahnawake with the highest designation
The first was designated in 1930, the latest in 1969. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. They date from 1716 (Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier) to 1725. Each one opens its own page.
TopNational Historic Site · 1716–1720Caughnawaga Presbyterycorner of River Road and Riverfront RoadPhoto: Edgar Gariépy · Public domain · Commons file
TopNational Historic Site · 1725–1726Fort St-Louis1 River Road, corner of Riverfront RoadPhoto: Noppen, Luc, 1949 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
Born here
People of Kahnawake’s past, one of them designated by Canada
The most recent birth is Mary Two-Axe Earley’s, in 1911. Mary Two-Axe Earley is the most written about, in 8 languages. Guillaume Gamelin Gaucher comes first, born in 1810. Wikidata and Wikipedia agree on 3 births here before 1914.
Guillaume Gamelin Gaucher
Peter Deer
Mary Two-Axe Earley
1800182518501875190019251950
ME
Mary Two-Axe Earley1911–1996 · Designated nationally in 2025 · Kanien’kehá:ka elder, Indigenous Cana…
PD
Peter Deer1878–1956 · Canadian middle-distance runner
GG
Guillaume Gamelin Gaucher1810–1885 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Kahnawake → 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.
Towns its size
Kahnawake has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 11,100 to 11,200 residents, by places on the registers.
Kahnawake3
Just one has more: Smiths Falls. The middle one has 0. 12 of them have nothing on the registers.
Neighbours
Kahnawake and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kahnawake | 11,142 | 3 | 3 | 1716 |
| Châteauguay | 53,508 | 2 | 1 | 1774 |
| Vieux-Lachine - Saint-Pierre | 31,113 | 2 | 2 | 1669 |
| Cecil-P.-Newman | 34,965 | 2 | 1 | 1827 |
| Lachine-Ouest | 15,315 | 1 | 0 | 1900 |
| Sault-Saint-Louis | 47,270 | 5 | 1 | 1775 |
| Montréal-Ouest | 5,197 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Kahnawake in brief
Kahnawake holds 3 historic places on Canada’s registers, 3 with the highest designation, including Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier. Around Fort St-Louis, 3 of the places of the highest designation lie within 400 m. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just one has more historic places. Its history in lives: Mary Two-Axe Earley (1911), Peter Deer (1878) and Guillaume Gamelin Gaucher (1810). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: the list grew between 1930 and 1969.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
- People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
- Protection. Québec’s classements and citations carry legal protection: work on a classified building needs the minister’s authorization, on a cited one the municipality’s. Federal designations commemorate.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
- Québec’s register. In Québec the ministry of culture publishes its register openly: provincial classements, declared sites and the municipalities’ citations all appear, with their descriptions.
- The federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
- 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.
Questions about Kahnawake’s history
What is the oldest building in Kahnawake?
Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier, a National Historic Site, begun in 1716.
Which places in Kahnawake have the highest designation?
These: Caughnawaga Mission / Mission of St. Francis Xavier, Caughnawaga Presbytery and Fort St-Louis.
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).