History of Swift Current · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Swift Current: 3 historic places, one of the highest rank
The list takes in a heritage railway station and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. The oldest dated place, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, goes back to 1907. For every 10,000 residents Swift Current has 1.7, ahead of 84% of Canadian towns.
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
The past of Swift Current, 1911 to 1912
2 old photographs of the town and the oldest view of one of its historic places, in date order. The dots mark each picture’s year; tap one to enlarge it.
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
The record of Swift Current, from 1883 on
On paper, Swift Current became a village in 1904. Its oldest recorded station, Swift Current railway station, dates from 1907. On Wikidata the municipality of Swift Current dates to 1883, with no word on whether that was its founding or a later incorporation.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Other federal designations
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 3, by tier
1 Highest designations2 Other federal designations
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. 2 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Highest designations
One place in Swift Current with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Their dates run from 1907, with “Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan”, to 1964. Here that means a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1964–1965Main Building No. 751 Airport Road
Homes by age
Swift Current keeps more old homes than most towns: 29% from before 1961, against 18%
New building has been slow in Swift Current: 2.9% of homes date from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%. More of Swift Current’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980 than in any other period: 37%. Over half of the homes in Swift Current were already standing by 1981.
29%
Before 1961
37%
1961–80
19%
1981–2000
13%
2001–15
2.9%
2016–21
Swift CurrentTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
3 Swift Current births on record from before 1914
Of them all, Jack Forsey lived longest: 85 years, until 1998. The earliest is Dorothy Walton, born in 1909. At the other end is Jack Forsey, from 1913. 5 Wikipedias cover Dorothy Walton, the most of anyone here.
Dorothy Walton
Gib Hutchinson
Jack Forsey
190019251950
DW
Dorothy Walton1909–1981 · Badminton player
JF
Jack Forsey1913–1998 · Canadian ice hockey player
GH
Gib Hutchinson1912–1996 · Ice hockey player
Everyone born in Swift Current → 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 its size
Swift Current has the 4th most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 18,000 to 18,400 residents, by places on the registers.
Before 1961: 29% of Swift Current’s homes, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 3 historic places, one with the highest designation, led by Gray Burial Site. Just 3 towns of its size, out of 16, have more historic places. Dorothy Walton (1909), Jack Forsey (1913) and Gib Hutchinson (1912) are the town’s people of the past on the record. Beyond that, the list grew between 1973 and 2013.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
•
The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
•
Provincial and municipal lists. Only Wikidata gives open access to listings on provincial and municipal registers outside Québec; without an article such a place is counted but not paged.
•
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.
•
Map points. Where a federal place sits on the map is Wikidata’s placing; the directory itself has no coordinates.
•
The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
Questions about Swift Current’s history
Which places in Swift Current have the highest designation?
It is Gray Burial Site.
What is the oldest building in Swift Current?
By its record, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, from 1907 (Heritage Railway Station).
How old are the homes in Swift Current?
The 2021 Census dates 29% 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.
c. 1911
c. 1912
c. 1912
Fed