Canadian American - Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Lac-Mégantic, Quebec · Photo: Richard Coté · CC BY-SA 4.0
3historic places on the registers
History of Lac-Mégantic · Canada’s heritage registers
Older housing stands out in Lac-Mégantic: 38% predates 1961
For Lac-Mégantic, that is 2.2 times the typical town’s share, 18%. Federal, provincial and local lists together give 3 historic places here. Its 5 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 94% of Canadian towns. Counted by designation, there are 2 municipal citations and a heritage railway station.
Lac-Mégantic’s landmarks in 2 photos, with 3 old views
Pictured and oldest in Lac-Mégantic: Église Sainte-Agnès de Lac-Mégantic, 1911. Of the places on Lac-Mégantic’s registers, 2 have a photo here. “Canadian American - Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Lac-Mégantic, Quebec” and Église Sainte-Agnès de Lac-Mégantic lead the set.
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
Lac-Mégantic between 1908 and 1910
On one line by date: 3 old photographs of the town. A tap on any picture opens it with its credit.
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
How Lac-Mégantic began, in 1884
The record puts Lac-Mégantic’s founding in 1884. It has been 142 years since then. The name Lac Mégantic lasted until 1969, when Lac-Mégantic took another.
The date Wikidata keeps for Lac-Mégantic is March 14, 1907; whether it was a founding or a legal act, the entry leaves open. Lac-Mégantic takes its name from Lac Mégantic, lake in Frontenac, Québec, Canada.
2 more places Lac-Mégantic or its province protects
They date from 1890 (Édifice Eastern-Townships-Bank) to 1911. Citations the municipality has made, registered with Québec’s ministry of culture. Designations came from 2008 to 2009. Each one opens its own page.
38% of Lac-Mégantic’s homes were built before 1961
Homes built from 2016 to 2021 are 4.3% of Lac-Mégantic’s, about the typical 4.1%. Only 20% of Lac-Mégantic’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%. 19% of Lac-Mégantic’s homes were built from 2001 to 2015, more than the typical town’s 15%.
38%
Before 1961
20%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
19%
2001–15
4.3%
2016–21
Lac-MéganticTypical 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
Lac-Mégantic has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 5,900 to 6,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Housing in Lac-Mégantic includes 38% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 3 historic places. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just one has more historic places. For the rest, its past has lives on the record such as George Stearns (1901) and William Morrison (1891); and the designations ran from 1996 to 2009.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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Protection. A place classified or cited under Québec’s law is protected; National Historic Site status alone protects only what the federal government owns.
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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.
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Québec’s register. The Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec is open data, so the province’s own designations and its municipalities’ citations are here in full.
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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.
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The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
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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.
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Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
Questions about Lac-Mégantic’s history
How old are the homes in Lac-Mégantic?
38% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
How many historic places does Lac-Mégantic have on the registers?
3 historic places inside Lac-Mégantic, by the federal, Québec and Wikidata-known registers.
What is the oldest building in Lac-Mégantic?
Édifice Eastern-Townships-Bank — its record dates it to 1890 (Municipal citation (Québec)).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada). Québec register data: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, CC BY 4.0.
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec (MCC, Données Québec) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
c. 1908
c. 1908
c. 1910
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