Battleford Court House · Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0
8historic places on the registers
History of Battleford · Canada’s heritage registers
8 historic places in Battleford, 4 of them top designations
Few towns have as much for their size as Battleford: 17 for every 10,000 residents, more than 99% of Canadian towns. Go back to 1876 and you reach Commanding Officer's Residence, the oldest of them. The list takes in 4 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings.
3 designated places in Battleford have a photo. The set includes 3 of Battleford’s highest-designated places. Battleford Court House and Fort Battleford 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.
How it began
Back to 1875: the start of Battleford
Battleford got its start in 1875. That was 151 years ago. The municipality of Battleford has the date 1877 on Wikidata; the record doesn’t say whether it marks a founding or an incorporation.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designations
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 8, by tier
4 Highest designations4 Other federal designations
What the map shows is the open record: the federal directory in full, and from provincial or municipal lists only the places Wikidata ties to an encyclopedia article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. 5 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Highest designations
4 places in Battleford with the highest designation
They were designated between 1923 and 1991. Here that means 3 National Historic Sites and a Classified Federal Heritage Building. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Their dates run from 1884, with Officers' Quarters, to 1898. Each one opens its own page.
More public buildings than anything else in Battleford: 63%
2 places make forts and military buildings the second group. The top of the list holds Fort Battleford and Old Government House / Saint-Charles Scholasticate.
Public buildings5
Forts and military buildings2
Houses1
Grouped by what each register says the place is or was; a converted building counts as what it was built for.
Homes by age
Few of Battleford’s homes are older than 1961: 13%, against 18%
Homes built from 2016 to 2021 are 4.8% of Battleford’s, about the typical 4.1%. The busiest building years in Battleford were from 1961 to 1980, which account for 42% of today’s homes. 21% of Battleford’s homes date from 2001 to 2015, well above the typical 15%.
13%
Before 1961
42%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
21%
2001–15
4.8%
2016–21
BattlefordTypical 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
Battleford has the 2nd most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 4,600 to 4,700 residents, by places on the registers.
The registers count 8 historic places in Battleford, 4 with the highest designation. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just one has more historic places. The census dates only 13% of its homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: the dates cluster in the decades after Confederation; its past has lives on the record such as Poundmaker (1842) and Hazel Hastings (1897); and the designations ran from 1923 to 1991.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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People and events. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events are left out.
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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.
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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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Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
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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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The federal register. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
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Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
Questions about Battleford’s history
Which places in Battleford have the highest designation?
They are Fort Battleford, Old Government House / Saint-Charles Scholasticate, Battleford Court House and Commanding Officer's Residence.
What is the oldest building in Battleford?
Commanding Officer's Residence — its record dates it to 1876 (Classified Federal Heritage Building).
How old are the homes in Battleford?
The 2021 Census dates 13% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
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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