List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Saskatchewan facts for kids
This is a list of National Historic Sites (French: Lieux historiques nationaux) in the province of Saskatchewan. As of July 2021, there were 49 National Historic Sites designated in Saskatchewan, 10 of which are administered by Parks Canada (identified below by the beaver icon ).
Numerous National Historic Events also occurred in Saskatchewan, and are identified at places associated with them, using the same style of federal plaque which marks National Historic Sites. Several National Historic Persons are commemorated throughout the province in the same way. The markers do not indicate which designation—a Site, Event, or Person—a subject has been given. The Rideau Canal is a Site, for example, while the Welland Canal is an Event. The cairn and plaque to John Macdonell does not refer to a National Historic Person, but is erected because his home, Glengarry House, is a National Historic Site. Similarly, the plaque to John Guy officially marks not a Person, but an Event—the Landing of John Guy.
This list uses names designated by the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board, which may differ from other names for these sites.
National Historic Sites
Site | Date(s) | Designated | Location | Description | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Addison Sod House | 1911 (completed) | 2003 | Kindersley 51°28′0″N 109°10′0″W / 51.46667°N 109.16667°W |
A well-preserved and rare surviving example of a sod building, which was an important prairie form of construction and used extensively in the tall-grass regions | |
Batoche | 1872 (establishment) | 1923 | Batoche 52°45′14.81″N 106°6′42.3″W / 52.7541139°N 106.111750°W |
A Métis community and the site of 1885 Battle of Batoche; commemorates both the North-West Rebellion and Métis river lot land use patterns | |
Battle of Cut Knife Hill | 1885 (battle) | 1923 | Cut Knife 52°50′22″N 108°57′47″W / 52.83944°N 108.96306°W |
Site where an attack during the North-West Rebellion by 300 government troops was repulsed by members of the Poundmaker Cree Nation, led by Pitikwahanapiwiyin | |
Battle of Duck Lake | 1885 (battle) | 1924 | Duck Lake 52°49′27″N 106°16′27″W / 52.82417°N 106.27417°W |
A 12-hectare (30-acre) grassy lot that served as the site of the first battle of the North-West Rebellion, considered an important victory for the Métis | |
Battle of Tourond's Coulee / Fish Creek | 1885 (battle) | 1923 | Fish Creek 52°32′25.9″N 106°8′57.18″W / 52.540528°N 106.1492167°W |
The 36-hectare (89-acre) site of a battle between Middleton's North West Field Force and Gabriel Dumont's Métis and First Nations forces; a psychological victory for the Métis during the North-West Rebellion | |
Battleford Court House | 1909 (completed) | 1981 | Battleford 52°44′0″N 108°19′0″W / 52.73333°N 108.31667°W |
A three-storey square brick and limestone court house; representative of the public buildings erected by the provincial government following the creation of the Province of Saskatchewan in 1905 | |
Biggar Railway Station (Grand Trunk Pacific) | 1910 (completed) | 1976 | Biggar 52°3′13″N 107°59′11″W / 52.05361°N 107.98639°W |
A one-and-a-half-storey, timber-frame train station that commemorates the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway's role in the development of Western Canada and the distinctive contribution its stations made to Canada's architectural heritage | |
Canadian Bank of Commerce | 1907 (completed) | 1976 | Watson 52°7′44″N 104°31′27″W / 52.12889°N 104.52417°W |
A two-storey, wood-frame bank with neoclassical stylings, now housing the local museum; the largest surviving example of the prefabricated banks erected in railway towns across the prairies, and representative of the expansion of the country's large banks into Western Canada | |
Fort Carlton | 1810 (established) | 1976 | Duck Lake 52°49′4.95″N 106°29′47.35″W / 52.8180417°N 106.4964861°W |
The site of forts built in 1810, 1845 and 1855 (with foundations and archaeological remains existing from the 1855 fort); served as a strategically placed Hudson's Bay Company fort and a North-West Mounted Police post, and the location where Treaty 6 was signed | |
Claybank Brick Plant | 1912 (established) | 1994 | Claybank 50°3′0″N 105°14′0″W / 50.05000°N 105.23333°W |
A former industrial complex used for the manufacture of clay bricks from 1914 to 1989; key structures and brick-making equipment of the 1912-1937 period remain remarkably intact | |
College Building | 1912 (original building completed) | 2001 | Saskatoon 52°8′12″N 106°37′51″W / 52.13667°N 106.63083°W |
The centrepiece of the best grouping of Collegiate Gothic university buildings in Canada, surrounding a grassy oval known as "The Bowl"; the earliest and most important building on the University of Saskatchewan campus | |
Cumberland House | 1774 (established) | 1924 | Cumberland House 53°57′35″N 102°15′53″W / 53.95972°N 102.26472°W |
The Hudson's Bay Company's first inland fur-trading post, around which Saskatchewan's oldest permanent settlement was founded by Samuel Hearne; only visible remnant today is a stone-walled 1890s gunpowder house | |
Cypress Hills Massacre | 1873 (massacre) | 1964 | Maple Creek 49°33′1.75″N 109°53′19.76″W / 49.5504861°N 109.8888222°W |
The site where American traders attacked a Nakoda camp and killed a number of inhabitants; one of the first major tests of Canada's law enforcement policies in Western Canada | |
Doukhobor Dugout House | 1899 (completed) | 2008 | Blaine Lake 52°45′17″N 106°43′28″W / 52.75472°N 106.72444°W |
One of many such dugout houses constructed by Doukhobors upon arrival in Canada, and a shelter type used by many settlers of various ethnicities upon their arrival on the prairies; the only known partially surviving example of this type of shelter | |
Doukhobors at Veregin | 1905 (established) | 2006 | Veregin 51°35′0″N 102°4′53″W / 51.58333°N 102.08139°W |
The administrative, distribution and spiritual centre for the Doukhobor settlements in the region, the focus of which is a large prayer house | |
Esterhazy Flour Mill | 1907 (completed) | 2009 | Esterhazy 50°39′11″N 102°4′16″W / 50.65306°N 102.07111°W |
A rare and complete flour milling complex, of the type that was crucial to the grain industry in Saskatchewan and which contributed to the development of farming communities such as Esterhazy | |
Forestry Farm Park and Zoo | 1913 (established) | 1990 | Saskatoon 52°9′30″N 106°35′3″W / 52.15833°N 106.58417°W |
Opened as a tree nursery station and model farm under the federal Department of the Interior in order to develop new and scientific farming methods; now a municipal zoo | |
Former Muscowequan Indian Residential School | 1931 (built) 1889-1997 (school operated) |
July 8, 2021 | Lestock | The last standing Indian boarding school in Saskatchewan, and among the last to close in the country | |
Former Prince Albert City Hall | 1893 (completed) | 1984 | Prince Albert 53°12′7″N 105°45′31″W / 53.20194°N 105.75861°W |
Former city hall with bell tower, now serving as an arts centre; one of the few remaining 19th-century town halls on the Canadian Prairies, and a reflection of the town's status and optimism at the time of the hall's construction | |
Fort à la Corne | 1753 (established) | 1926 | Kinistino 53°9′0″N 104°48′0″W / 53.15000°N 104.80000°W |
Site near where Louis de la Corne built Fort St. Louis in 1753, the furthest western point of New France; subsequently the site of several fur trade posts, including a post established in 1846 by the Hudson's Bay Company and named after Corne | |
Fort Battleford | 1876 (established) | 1923 | Battleford 52°43′36.58″N 108°17′42.32″W / 52.7268278°N 108.2950889°W |
An early North-West Mounted Police post, representative of the role of the police force in the 1876 to 1885 period and specifically of the role played by the force during the North-West Rebellion | |
Fort Espérance | 1785 (established) | 1944 | Rocanville 50°29′32″N 101°34′39″W / 50.49222°N 101.57750°W |
An archaeological site believed to contain the remains of two late 18th- and early 19th-century fur trade forts; the earliest and most permanent of the North West Company's posts related to the Assiniboine River fur trade | |
Fort Livingstone | 1874 (established) | 1923 | Pelly 51°53′58″N 101°57′44″W / 51.899444°N 101.962222°W |
An archaeological site at the location of the former capital of the North-West Territories (1876-1877) and which once housed the first North-West Mounted Police barracks in Western Canada | |
Fort Pelly | 1856 (established) | 1953 | Pelly 51°46′35″N 101°59′51″W / 51.77639°N 101.99750°W |
An archaeological site on the site of the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade post located at the elbow of the Assiniboine River near the Swan River; the headquarters of the company's Swan River District for almost 50 years | |
Fort Pitt | 1829 (established) | 1954 | Fort Pitt Provincial Park 53°39′1″N 109°45′6″W / 53.65028°N 109.75167°W |
An archaeological site containing the remains of two Hudson's Bay Company forts; the second fort was burned during the North-West Rebellion by Big Bear's followers after the North-West Mounted Police had withdrawn to Battleford | |
Fort Qu'Appelle | 1864 (established) | 1953 | Fort Qu'Appelle 50°46′18″N 103°47′51″W / 50.77167°N 103.79750°W |
Originally a major Hudson's Bay Company provision post for the southern Prairies surrounded by a log palisade; now located at the town's northern edge, with one remaining one original building that serves as a museum | |
Fort Walsh | 1875 (established) | 1924 | Merryflat 49°34′21.89″N 109°52′53.24″W / 49.5727472°N 109.8814556°W |
A fort which served as headquarters of the North-West Mounted Police from 1878 to 1882 | |
Frenchman Butte | 1885 (battle) | 1929 | Frenchman Butte 53°37′38″N 109°34′33″W / 53.62722°N 109.57583°W |
The site where the Wood Cree and the Alberta Field Force waged the Battle of Frenchman's Butte on May 28, 1885, as part of the North-West Rebellion | |
Government House | 1891 (completed) | 1968 | Regina 50°27′14″N 104°38′52″W / 50.45389°N 104.64778°W |
The former residence of the Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories and now an event venue, museum and offices for the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan; one of the few surviving territorial government buildings | |
Gravelbourg Ecclesiastical Buildings | 1919 (Cathedral completed) | 1995 | Gravelbourg 49°52′20″N 106°33′26″W / 49.87222°N 106.55722°W |
A cathedral, bishop's residence and convent; symbolic of the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to colonize Western Canada with French Canadians | |
Gray Burial Site | 3000 BCE (c.) | 1973 | Swift Current 50°20′38″N 107°52′43″W / 50.34389°N 107.87861°W |
One of oldest burial sites on the Prairies and a rare example of an Aboriginal burial ground; contains 87 burials with remains of about 154 individuals, and display a remarkable degree of variation in burial techniques | |
Holy Trinity Church | 1860 (completed) | 1970 | Stanley Mission 55°25′3″N 104°33′2″W / 55.41750°N 104.55056°W |
A large, wooden church on a rocky point on the banks of the Churchill River, the spire of which can be seen for a great distance against the forest backdrop; the oldest existing building in Saskatchewan, and the oldest church west of the Red River | |
Humboldt Post Office | 1912 (completed) | 1977 | Humboldt 52°11′56″N 105°7′22″W / 52.19889°N 105.12278°W |
A Romanesque Revival-style former post office which remains, more than a century after construction, one of the dominant buildings on Main Street and a landmark in the town; representative of the extension of federal services across the west in the early 20th century | |
Île-à-la-Crosse | 1775 (trading post established) | 1954 | Île-à-la-Crosse 55°27′0″N 107°53′0″W / 55.45000°N 107.88333°W |
A pre-contact gathering place for Aboriginal peoples, where Louis Primeau established a trading post in 1775; the site served as an important provision depot for the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company established its first post here in 1799 | |
John and Olive Diefenbaker Museum | 1912 (built) 1947 (Diefenbaker purchase) |
2018 | Prince Albert 53°11′46″N 105°45′43″W / 53.196007°N 105.761981°W |
Former home of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and his second wife, Olive, now a museum | |
Keyhole Castle | 1913 (completed) | 1975 | Prince Albert 53°11′43″N 105°45′6″W / 53.19528°N 105.75167°W |
A 2+1⁄2-storey mansion in the Queen Anne Revival-style, the name of which derives from the shape of the windows in its corner tower; exemplifies the eclecticism and individualism in late 19th- and early 20th-century architecture, and represents the optimism of the early citizens of this community | |
Last Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary | 1887 (established) | 1987 | Last Mountain Valley 51°19′52.52″N 105°14′2.72″W / 51.3312556°N 105.2340889°W |
On the recommendation of Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, this sanctuary located at the northern end of Last Mountain Lake was set aside in 1887 for the protection of wildfowl, the first such reserve on the continent | |
Marr Residence | 1884 | 2016 | Saskatoon 52°07′07″N 106°39′48″W / 52.118640°N 106.663290°W |
Part of the area's first European settlement and a temperance colonization effort; field hospital during the North-West Rebellion | |
Melville Railway Station | 1908 | 2016 | Melville 50°55′35″N 102°48′26″W / 50.9263°N 102.8072°W |
Major Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station helped settle and develop the West | |
Montgomery Place | 1945 | 2016 | Saskatoon 52°06′43″N 106°43′41″W / 52.112001°N 106.727965°W |
A post-World War II veterans community which became a commemorative landscape and historic district | |
Moose Jaw Court House | 1909 (completed) | 1981 | Moose Jaw 50°23′37″N 105°32′14″W / 50.39361°N 105.53722°W |
A brick court house with Beaux-Arts design, Neoclassical detailing and Bedford stone trim; symbolic of the new provincial justice system of Saskatchewan of 1908, and the only court house in the province designed by Pearson and Darling | |
Motherwell Homestead | 1882 (established) | 1966 | Abernethy 50°43′8″N 103°25′30″W / 50.71889°N 103.42500°W |
A 3.59-hectare (8.9-acre) farmstead with a two-storey, stone farmhouse; noted for its associations with William Richard Motherwell and illustrative of a prairie homestead from the Western Canada settlement period | |
Next of Kin Memorial Avenue | 1923 (completed) | 1992 | Saskatoon 52°8′49″N 106°39′29″W / 52.14694°N 106.65806°W |
A 0.7-kilometre (0.43 mi)-long lane beginning at a pair of stone pedestals, flanked on either side by a single row of mature elm trees and commemorative bronze plaques, and ending in a paved circle surrounding a stone memorial cairn; an excellent example of the "Roads of Remembrance" phenomenon which developed to honour the dead of the First World War | |
Old Government House / Saint-Charles Scholasticate | 1879 (completed) | 1973 | Battleford 52°42′43″N 108°18′29″W / 52.71194°N 108.30806°W |
The site of the first Government House of the (then) North-West Territories; the house was destroyed by fire in 2003 | |
Saskatchewan Legislative Building and Grounds | 1912 (completed) | 2005 | Regina 50°25′57″N 104°36′54″W / 50.43250°N 104.61500°W |
A buff-coloured limestone legislative building on the shores of Lake Wascana which, along with its grounds, represents one of the best examples of Beaux-Arts and City Beautiful design in Canada; a highly visible symbol of the province, and one which represents the ambition and drive of the people of Saskatchewan | |
Saskatoon Railway Station (Canadian Pacific) | 1908 (completed) | 1976 | Saskatoon 52°7′56″N 106°40′16″W / 52.13222°N 106.67111°W |
A two-storey, Château-style railway station; commemorates the Canadian Pacific Railway and the smaller stations built by the line during its prosperous years | |
Seager Wheeler's Maple Grove Farm | 1898 (established) | 1994 | Rosthern 52°40′25″N 106°13′5″W / 52.67361°N 106.21806°W |
A 17-hectare (42-acre) farmstead established by farmer, agronomist and pioneering seed breeder Seager Wheeler; representative of a typical prairie farm of the 1898-1940 era, and reflective of Seager's work during that era | |
Steele Narrows | 1885 (battle) | 1950 | Loon Lake 54°2′26″N 109°18′34″W / 54.04056°N 109.30944°W |
The site of the last engagement of the North-West Rebellion; a cavalry troop led by Sam Steele overtook a party of Cree led by Wandering Spirit and Big Bear | |
Wanuskewin | 4000 BCE (c.) | 1986 | Corman Park 52°13′25″N 106°35′42″W / 52.22361°N 106.59500°W |
Archaeological sites representing nearly 6000 years of the history of the Northern Plains peoples, located within a 57-hectare (140-acre) conservation area on the South Saskatchewan River |