Population and land area of Canada's largest cities, 1941

[Docere]

Population and land area (square miles), cities over 30,000, 1941 census

Montreal 903,007 50.4
Toronto 667,457 40.5
Vancouver 273,353 43.3
Winnipeg 221,960 23.9
Hamilton 166,337 15.2
Ottawa 154,951 9.6
Quebec 150,757 9
Windsor 105,311 12.9
Edmonton 93,817 42.5
Calgary 88,904 40.5
London 78,264 11.3
Halifax 70,488 6.9
Verdun 67,349 2.2
Regina 58,245 13.1
Saint John 51,741 21
Victoria 44,068 7.3
Saskatoon 43,027 13.3
Trois-Rivieres 42,007 4.7
Sherbrooke 35,965 4.9
Kitchener 35,657 5.4
Hull 32,947 6.3
Sudbury 32,203 4
Brantford 31,948 4.9
Outremont 30,751 1.5
Fort William 30,585 14.6
St. Catharines 30,275 3.8
Kingston 30,126 4.6

[SignalHillHiker]

Closest we have that I can find is the census of 1945, at which time St. John's had 62,054. This census split the city into two districts that, combined, were about one third the size of the current CMA.

[Docere]

What was the land area of St. John's then?

Wikipedia has St. John's population figures going back to 1951 (first Canadian census to include Newfoundland). It put the population of 52,000. I assume there was some major annexations in the 1960s, since the population increased from 64,000 to 88,000 between 1961 and 1971, an increase of close to 40%.

[SignalHillHiker]

Not sure what the area was but the district went from Bauline to Petty Harbour and excluded Conception Bay South to Holyrood.

https://publications.gc.ca/collectio...5M-HN1-eng.pdf

Yeah 1945 was long past our comparative glory days with the rest of Canada. We would've been in Canada's top 10, I think, up until the 1920s ish.

Originally Posted by Docere

I assume there was some major annexations in the 1960s, since the population increased from 64,000 to 88,000 between 1961 and 1971, an increase of close to 40%.

Not quite.

And this baby bonus of $6 Canadian per kid came in a period where the average NL wage was 1/3 that of mainland Canada. Both of my parents have a dozen siblings each (dad born '50, Mom born '52).

• Video Link

Well the bells are all ringing, the clergymen singing
As up to the altar, the couples do go
Said an unmarried mother to her handsome young lover
Ahh to hell with the neighbours, lets go for the dough

Now the Pope told us women, the pill it was something
Every good wife should turn down to her death
But with Ottawa sending us monthly reminders
It was one time His Holiness wasted his breath

Now we all get our catalogues each month from Eaton's
At six bucks a kid, we talk nothing but sex
We wants our fut coats, our new skirts, and our sweaters
Our old men won't have strength left to pick up our cheques

Oh we'll rant and we'll roar, like true Newfoundlanders
As back to our bedrooms in droves we all go
Our backs may be aching, but the money we're making...
And we'll all be a credit to Premier Joe!

[Docere]

Interesting how small the land areas were for many Canadian cities were ca. WWII. Ottawa was just 10 square miles, Hamilton just 15 square miles.

[Wigs]

Interesting thread
Docere, can you please post the population densities from 1941?

[Docere]

Population density (per square mile), 1941:

Montreal 17,916
Toronto 16,480
Vancouver 6,313
Winnipeg 9,287
Hamilton 10,943
Ottawa 16,140
Quebec 16,750
Windsor 8,163
Edmonton 2,207
Calgary 2,195
London 6,926
Halifax 10,215
Verdun 30,613
Regina 4,446
Saint John 2,464
Victoria 6,036
Saskatoon 3,235
Trois-Rivieres 8,937
Sherbrooke 7,340
Kitchener 6,603
Hull 5,230
Sudbury 8,050
Brantford 6,520
Outremont 20,500
Fort William 2,095
St. Catharines 7,967
Kingston 6,549

[Docere]

Interesting to note that at this time Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary all had similar land areas. But the city of Toronto was already fully built out (York Township, with a population of 81,000 really was Canada's most populated suburb), the city of Vancouver wasn't fully built up until the immediate postwar period and Calgary and Edmonton obviously had very small populations until after WWII.

[Wigs]

And Montréal still must have felt like Canada's most important city and the cultural capital of Canada. Almost bigger than Toronto by a quarter million!

[Docere]

Population of greater cities, 1941

Montreal 1,139,921
Toronto 900,491
Vancouver 351,491
Winnipeg 290,540
Ottawa 215,022
Quebec 200,814
Hamilton 176,110
Windsor 121,112
Halifax 91,829
London 86,740
Victoria 75,218
Saint John 65,784

https://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb02/1...103003-eng.htm

[Docere]

Urban centres of 10,000-30,000, 1941 (population and land area)

Belleville 15,710 2.8
Brandon 17,383 8.5
Brockville 11,342 2.1
Cap-de-la-Madelaine 11,961 6.7
Charlottetown 14,821 1.3
Chatham 17,369 2.6
Chicoutimi 16,640 2.7
Cornwall 14,117 1.1
Dartmouth 10,847 2.7
Drummondville 10,355 2.1
Forest Hill 11,757 1
Fredericton 10,062 16.9
Galt 15,346 2.9
Glace Bay 25,147 9.7
Granby 14,197 2.1
Guelph 23,273 4.9
Joliette 12,749 2
Jonquiere 13,769 2.8
Lachine 20,051 4.7
Lethbridge 14,612 10.9
Levis 11,991 3.5
Medicine Hat 10,571 17
Moncton 22,763 3.3
Moose Jaw 20,753 15.3
New Westminster 21,967 5.4
Niagara Falls 20,589 2.6
North Bay 15,599 3.3
Oshawa 26,813 5.6
Owen Sound 14,006 4.2
Pembroke 11,159 3
Peterborough 25,350 4.5
Port Arthur 24,426 24.4
Prince Albert 12,508 15.2
St. Boniface 18,157 18.2
St-Hyacinthe 17,798 1.7
St-Jean 13,646 2.1
St-Jerome 11,329 14.7
St. Thomas 17,132 2.9
Sarnia 18,734 2.8
Sault Ste. Marie 25,794 7.7
Shawinigan Falls 20,325 2.5
Sorel 12,251 3.1
Stratford 17,038 4.4
Sydney 28,305 5.8
Thetford Mines 12,716 3.3
Timmins 28,790 3.2
Truro 10,272 4.7
Valleyfield 17,052 1.8
Welland 12,500 1.7
Westmount 26,047 1.5
Woodstock 12,461 2.4

[Docere]

St. John's, 1951

Population: 52,871
Land area (square miles): 4.94
Population density: 10,703

https://archive.org/details/19519819...e/n29/mode/2up

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Docere

Moose Jaw 20,753 15.3

Niagara Falls 20,589 2.6

Interesting that Niagara Falls and Moose Jaw were the same population.
Now Niagara Falls is around 106,000 and growing rapidly.

[Docere]

Niagara Falls has expanded enormously in land area too since then. From less than 3 square miles to 81 square miles/148 square km.

[Docere]

For interest, the 2001 census for selected cities in Ontario (translating to square miles to compare with pre-war cities). This is right after the Harris amalgamations. Population figures were compiled for former cities in 2001. All these cities saw significant expansion to the land area in the postwar era:

Ottawa (dissolved) 337,031 43
London 336,539 163
Hamilton (dissolved) 331,121 47
Windsor 208,402 47
Kitchener 190,399 53
Oshawa 139,051 56
St. Catharines 129,170 37
Guelph 106,170 33
Brantford 86,417 28
Niagara Falls 78,815 81
Sarnia 70,876 64
Kingston (dissolved) 54,456 11

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Docere

Niagara Falls has expanded enormously in land area too since then. From less than 3 square miles to 81 square miles/148 square km.

Yeah it's one of the largest municipalities by area in Niagara Region. I'm not disputing that
It is on fire with housing subdivision development however.

[Docere]

Do you know what the old boundaries were for Niagara Falls?

The population more than doubled after NF annexed Stamford Township in 1963.

https://nfexchange.ca/museum/discove...-niagara-falls

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Docere

Do you know what the old boundaries were for Niagara Falls?

The population more than doubled after NF annexed Stamford Township in 1963.

https://nfexchange.ca/museum/discove...-niagara-falls

No, I don't. But this map in Brock University's collection gives one an idea of how tiny the city limits once were.
Unsure of date
https://dr.library.brocku.ca/bitstre...=1&isAllowed=y

[Docere]

Population, pre-1950 boundaries (2021 Census):

Hamilton 157,722 -5% from 1941
Ottawa 119,912 -22% from 1941

[Taeolas]

Saint John 51,741 21

Fredericton 10,062 16.9
Moncton 22,763 3.3

From an era when Saint John was the dominant city in New Brunswick.

What's really sad though is that we're almost a century later, and its population isn't all that much bigger (especially compared to how much most of the other cities on the list have grown). Wiki lists SJ's current core is only 69k, and its greater region is 'only' 130k.

Moncton as we all know well, has basically exploded. Around 10x that population in 80 years. And Freddy hasn't really slouched much either.


Glace Bay 25,147 9.7

This boggles my mind a bit. My mom's family is nearby in Donkin, and Glace Bay always felt like a smaller town than my home town in many ways. Looking at Wiki, they lost about 6k people between the 40's and 90's, and apparently have lost a lot more since then. Which is probably why it's always felt like a bit of a 'run down' town to me. A cute town but it felt like it was bigger than its population.