Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Canadian National Railways Station, Melville, Saskatchewan · Photo: RFBailey · CC BY-SA 3.0Melville’s share is 2.1 times the typical 18%. Inside the town the registers count 2 historic places; one is a top designation. Its 4.4 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 94% of Canadian towns. Counted by designation, there are a heritage railway station.
2 old photographs of the town, then the oldest view of one of its historic places, set out by date. Every picture opens full screen, credit and all.
c. 1909
1911
1922Public 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.
As a municipality, Melville carries the date 1908 on Wikidata: a founding, an incorporation or an amalgamation. The first railway station on record, Melville railway station, opened in 1908.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists the places the Government of Canada has recognized; outside Québec, provincial and municipal listings come only through Wikidata, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. One place, placed by its register’s municipality, has no point and isn’t on the map.
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. Each one opens its own page.
They stand in 3 towns, Fort Qu'Appelle, Esterhazy and Foam Lake among them. The first one out is Esterhazy Flour Mill, 60 km away in Esterhazy. Fort Qu'Appelle, 72 km off, is the oldest: 1864.
| Esterhazy Flour MillNational Historic Site · 1904–1908 · 60 km away, in Esterhazy |
| Fort Qu'AppelleNational Historic Site · 1864–1865 · 72 km away, in Fort Qu'Appelle |
| Fort Qu'Appelle railway stationMunicipal heritage property · 1911 · 72 km away, in Fort Qu'Appelle |
| St. John the Evangelist Anglican ChurchMunicipal heritage property · 1911 · 94 km away, in Foam Lake |
More than half of Melville’s housing predates 1981. Melville’s largest group of homes, 38%, went up from 1961 to 1980. Homes built from 1981 to 2000 make up just 14% of Melville’s, against 23% in the typical town.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
The widest known is Phil Besler: 4 Wikipedia editions. At the other end is Phil Besler, from 1913. It starts with Sol Kanee, born in 1909. Sol Kanee reached 98, the longest life here, ending in 2007.
Everyone born in Melville → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Towns of 4,500 to 4,600 residents, by places on the registers.
The middle one has 0. For 12, the registers list nothing.
Housing in Melville includes 38% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The count is 2 historic places, one with the highest designation, with Melville Railway Station first. No town its size has more historic places: it leads the 16 nearest in population. Its history in lives: Phil Besler (1913), Sol Kanee (1909) and Alex Motter (1913). The rest is about typical: its places were designated between 1992 and 2014.
The 2021 Census dates 38% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Just one: Melville Railway Station.
By its record, Canadian National Railways Station, Melville, Saskatchewan, from 1908 (Heritage Railway Station).
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).
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