Waterloo County, Ontario

History

Waterloo County was once one of the most densely wooded sections in North America. Oak trees three to four feet in diameter, maple, beech, elm, ash oak and great pines were common. The county, located in the northerly edge of the Attiwandaronk or Neutral Indian country was excellent for hunting and fishing.

In 1784, the British Government granted the Grand River valley to its Indian allies of the American Revolution, the Iroquois confederation refugees from central and western New York State. The area was from Lake Erie to the Elora falls, and the width being six miles on each side of the river. The First Nations soon offered almost half of the upper area for sale. It was divided into four blocks. Blocks 1, 2 and 3 were sold by 1816; this large area became the townships of Waterloo, Woolwich and Dumfries.

The western part of this area was initially by Mennonites of German extraction from Pennsylvania; most settled the area that would become Kitchener, St. Jacobs, Elmira and surroundings. The southern part (now Cambridge) - as well as areas that would become Fergus and Elora, just outside Waterloo County - were settled by Scots. Except for grist, woolen and saw mills, there was little industry in any of these area until about 1870.

1800 to 1819

Settlement of the what became the Township of Waterloo started in 1800 by Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner, Jr. (brothers-in-law), Mennonites, from Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Other settlers followed mostly from Pennsylvania typically by Conestoga wagons. The early group purchased land from Richard Beasley who had acquired it from the Six Nations. The first school was begun in 1802 near the village of Blair. The first teacher's name was Rittenhaus of Pennsylvania.

Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a 60,000 acre section of Block Two from the German Company established by a group of Mennonites from Lancaster County Pennsylvania. The Tract included most of Block 2 of the previous Grand River Indian Lands. Many of the first farms were least four hundred acres in size. The German Company, represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker, had acquired the land from previous owner Richard Beasley; he had gotten into financial difficulties after buying the land in 1796 from Joseph Brant who represented the Six Nations. The payment to Beasly, in cash, arrived from Pennsylvania in kegs, carried in a wagon surrounded by armed guards.

The majority of the settlers of the Lower Block along the Grand River (including areas such as the current Freeport and Hespeler) were also Mennonites from Pennsylvania often called Pennsylvania Dutch although they were actually Deutsch, German. Others immigrated from the British Isles and directly from Germany, producing a mix of cultures.

Many of the Mennonite places of worship (meeting houses) were basic frame buildings and this type is still common among Old Order Mennonite groups in rural areas of Waterloo Region.

Later declared the founder of the city of Waterloo, Abraham Erb, a German Mennonite from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, bought 900 acres of bush land in 1806 from the German Company; (this would later be part of Waterloo Township). He built a sawmill in 1808 and a gristmill in 1816; the latter operated continuously for 111 years. Other early settlers of what would become Waterloo included Samuel and Elia Schneider who arrived in 1816. Until about 1820, settlements such as this were quite small.

In 1807, 45,195 acres (182.9 km²) of Block 3 (Woolwich) was purchased by Pennsylvanians John Erb, Jacob Erb and others.

Later named the founder of Kitchener, Benjamin Eby (made Mennonite preacher 1809, and bishop in 1812) arrived from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1806 and purchased a very large tract of land consisting of much of what would become the village of Berlin (named about 1830). The settlement was initially called Ebytown and was at the south-east side of what would later become Queen Street. (Eby was also responsible for the growth of the Mennonite church in Waterloo County; he built the first church in 1813.) Abram Weber settled on the corner of what would become King and Wilmot Streets and David Weber in the area of the much later Grand Trunk Railway station. Benjamin Eby encouraged manufacturers to move to the village. Jacob Hoffman came in 1829 or 1830 and started the first furniture factory.

Almost as important as Benjamin Eby in the history of Kitchener, Joseph Schneider of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (son of immigrants from southern Germany) bought lot 17 of the German Company Tract of block 2 in 1806. While farming, he helped to build what became "Schneider's Road" and by 1816 built a sawmill. Years later, Schneider and Phineas Varnum would help form the commercial centre of Ebytown.

The War of 1812 interrupted settlement. The Mennonite settlers refused to carry arms so were employed in non-combatant roles in camps and hospital and as teamsters in transport service during the war.

William Dickson of Niagara purchased land in the township of North Dumfries and South Dumfries. With his land agent, Absolom Shade, he located a town site on the Grand River. Settlers were attracted, largely from Scotland with the price of land being about four dollars an acre. Years later (1827), this village would be named Galt for John Galt, the British author and then Superintendent of the Canada Company headquartered in Guelph. Galt was a friend of William Dickson.

1819 to 1852

John Eby, druggist and chemist, arrived from Pennsylvania in about 1820 and opened a shop to the west of what would later be Eby Street. At the time, it was common for settlers to form a building "bee" to help newcomers erect a long home. Immigration from Lancaster county continued heavily in the 1820s because of a severe agricultural depression in Lancaster County. Joseph Schneider also settled in that area and built a frame house in 1820 on the south side of the future Queen Street after clearing a farm and creating a rough road. A small settlement formed around "Schneider's Road" which later became the nucleus of Berlin. The home was renovated over a century later and still stands.

The village centre of what would become Berlin (and later, Kitchener) was established in 1830 by Phineas Varnum who leased land from Joseph Schneider and opened a blacksmith shop on the site where a hotel would be built many years later, the Walper House. A tavern was also established here at the same time and a store was opened. At the time, the settlement of Berlin was still considered to be a hamlet.

By 1830 the village of Preston was a thriving business centre with Jacob Hespeler, a native of Württemberg and a prominent citizen. He would later move to the village of New Hope that was renamed Hespeler in 1857 in recognition of his public service and the industries he started there. Jacob Beck from the Grand Duchy of Baden founded the village of Baden in Wilmot Township and started a foundry and machine shop. Jacob Beck was the father of Sir Adam Beck.

The first newspaper of the county (first issue dated August 27, 1835) was the Canada Museum und Allgemeine Zeitung, printed mostly in German and partly in English. It was published for only five years.

By 1835, many immigrants to Waterloo County were not from Pennsylvania. Many settler came from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany to areas such as New Germany in the Lower Block of Block Two. In 1835, approximately 70% of the population was Mennonite but by 1851, only 26% of the much larger population were of this religion. This was due to the large wave of new German migrants from Europe, particularly between 1830 and 1850.

The Smith's Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 describes Waterloo having a population of 200, most Germans. There was a grist mill and a sawmill and some tradesmen. The Post Office received mail only twice a week. The 1846 Gazetteer indicates that Berlin (Kitchener) had a population of about 400, also mostly German and more tradesmen than in Waterloo.

After 1852

Previously a hamlet, Berlin became the county seat when the County of Waterloo was founded in 1853. The new County Council included 12 members from the five townships and two villages; Dr. John Scott was appointed as the first Warden (reeve). In the following years, various County institutions and facilities would be created, including roads and bridges, schools, a House of Industry and Refuge, agricultural societies and local markets.

There was some contentious debate between Galt and Berlin (later, Kitchener) as to where the county seat would be located; one of the requirements for founding was the construction of a courthouse. When local merchant Joseph Gaukel donated a small parcel of land he owned (at the current Queen and Weber streets), this sealed the deal for Berlin. The courthouse at the corner of the later Queen Street North and Weber Street and the gaol were built within a few months and the county began operations. Though the courthouse has since been replaced with a modern structure, the gaol and neighbouring governor's house remain to this day under historical designation; they have been repurposed for further legal capacities (courtrooms and prosecutors' offices).

The railway (Grand Trunk) reached Berlin in 1856 and that accelerated the growth of industry. In the next decade factories and the homes of labourers and wealthy owners replaced the early settlers log houses.

In 1869, the County built a very large so-called Poorhouse with an attached farm, the House of Industry and Refuge that accommodated some 3,200 people before being closed down in 1951; the building was subsequently demolished. It was located on Frederick St. in Kitchener, behind the now Frederick Street Mall and was intended to minimize the number of people begging, living on the streets or being incarcerated at a time before social welfare programmes became available. A 2009 report by the Toronto Star explains that "pauperism was considered a moral failing that could be erased through order and hard work".

A research project by the Laurier School of Social Work has amassed all available data about the House and its former residents, digitized it and made the archive available on-line at WaterlooHouseOfRefuge.ca. According to Sandy Hoy, a director of research projects, the "inmates" included not only the poor, "but folks with disabilities, women, children. Some were single women who had been servants and became pregnant; in fact, many were single mothers of all types. The archives also indicate that in addition to food and shelter for "inmates", in return for labour in the house and on the attached farm, the House also donated food, clothing and money for train tickets to enable the poor to reach family that might be able to support them. There were also two cemeteries for the poor nearby, including "inmates" of the House who had died.

Intercity electric streetcar

A new streetcar system, the Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway (later called the Grand River Railway) began to operate in 1894, initially connecting Preston and Galt. In 1911, the line reached Hespeler, Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover. The electric rail system ended passenger services in April, 1955.

Germanic heritage

While German-speaking settlers from Pennsylvania were the most numerous until about 1840, a few Germans from Europe began arriving in as 1819, including Fredrick Gaukel, a hotel keeper, being one of the firsts. He would build what later became the Walper House in Berlin. Two streets in present-day Kitchener, Frederick and Gaukel streets, are named after him. Other German-speaking immigrants from Europe arrived in Waterloo County during the 1830s to 1850s, bringing with them their language, religion and cultural traditions. Waterloo County soon became recognized throughout Canada for their Germanic heritage. The German community became industrial and political leaders, and created a German-Canadian society unlike any other found in Canada at the time. They established German public schools and German language churches.

Both the immigrants from Germany and the Mennonites from Pennsylvania spoke German of course, though with different dialects such as Low German or the incorrectly called Pennsylvania Dutch, actually Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch (German). (This dialect is different from Standard German with a simplified grammatical structure, some differences in vocabulary and pronunciation and a greater influence of English.) The combination of various types of German-speaking groups was a notable factor in the history of Waterloo County. The two groups of Germanics were able to understand each other quite easily and there was no apparent conflict between the Germans from Europe and those who came from Pennsylvania.

Some sources estimate that roughly 50,000 Germans directly from Europe settled in a large area of Southern Ontario, in and around Waterloo County, between the 1830s and 1850s. Unlike the predominantly Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania, the majority of Germans from Europe were of other denominations: most in the first groups were Catholic and those who arrived later were primarily Lutheran.

In 1862, German-speaking groups held The Sängerfest, or "Singer Festival" concert event that attracted an estimated 10,000 people and continued for several years. Eleven years later, the over 2000 Germans in Berlin, Ontario started a new event, Friedenfest, commemorating Prussian victory Franco-Prussian war. This annual celebration continued until the start of WWI. In 1897, they raised funds to erect a large monument, with a bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm 1, in Victoria Park. (The monument would be destroyed by townspeople just after the start of WWI.)

By 1871, nearly 55 percent of the population had German origins, including both those of Pennsylvania Mennonite and European Germans. This group greatly outnumbered the Scots (18 per cent), the English (12.6 per cent) and the Irish (8 per cent). Berlin, Ontario was a bilingual town with German being the dominant language spoken. More than one visitor commented on the necessity of speaking German in Berlin.

Immigration from continental Germany slowed by 1880. First and second-generation descendants now comprised most of the local German population, and while they were proud of their German roots, most considered themselves loyal British subjects. The 1911 Census indicates that of the 15,196 residents in Berlin, Ontario, about 70% were identified as ethnic German but only 8.3% had been born in Germany. By the beginning of the First World War in 1914, Berlin and Waterloo County were still considered to be predominantly German by people across Canada. This would prove to have a profound impact on local citizens during the war years. During the first few months of the war, services an activities at Lutheran churches in Waterloo County continued on as they always had. However, as anti-German sentiment increased throughout Waterloo County, many of the churches decided to stop holding services in German.

By the early 1900s, North Waterloo County (the Kitchener, Waterloo, Elmira area) exhibited a strong German culture and those of German origin made up a third of the population in 1911, with Lutherans as the primary religious group. There were nearly three times as many Lutherans as Mennonites at that time. The latter primarily resided in the rural areas and small communities.

The Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught, while visiting Berlin, Ontario in May 1914, discussed the importance of Canadians of German ethnicity (regardless of their origin) in a speech: "It is of great interest to me that many of the citizens of Berlin are of German descent. I well know the admirable qualities - the thoroughness, the tenacity, and the loyalty of the great Teutonic Race, to which I am so closely related. I am sure that these inherited qualities will go far in the making of good Canadians and loyal citizens of the British Empire".

Nonetheless, before and during World War I, there was some Anti-German sentiment in Canada and some cultural sanctions on the community, particularly in Berlin, Ontario. However, by 1919 most of the population of what would become Kitchener, Waterloo and Elmira were "Canadian"; over 95 percent had been born In Ontario. Those of the Mennonite religion were pacifist so they could not enlist and the few who had immigrated from Germany (not born in Canada) could not morally fight against a country that was a significant part of their heritage. The anti-German sentiment was the primary reason for the Berlin to Kitchener name change in 1916. News reports indicate that "A Lutheran minister was pulled out of his house ... he was dragged through the streets. German clubs were ransacked through the course of the war. It was just a really nasty time period.". A document in the Archives of Canada makes the following comment: "Although ludicrous to modern eyes, the whole issue of a name for Berlin highlights the effects that fear, hatred and nationalism can have upon a society in the face of war."

The Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower built in 1926 commemorates the settlement by the Pennsylvania 'Dutch' (actually Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch, or German) of the Grand River area of Waterloo County.

Running for nearly 50 years now, the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest has been a remembrance of the Region's German Heritage. The event includes beer halls and German entertainment, as well as a major parade, The second largest Oktoberfest in the world, the event is based on the original German Oktoberfest and is billed as Canada's Greatest Bavarian Festival. In recent years, it has been attracting an average of 700,000 people to the County. During the 2016 Oktoberfest parade, an estimated 150,000 people lined the streets along the route.

Successor to the County

When created in 1853, Waterloo County consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries, including the cities, towns and villages in each area.

The County was dissolved in 1973 and the new Regional Municipality of Waterloo, was formed consisting of the cities of Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo and the townships of Wellesley, Woolwich, Wilmot, and North Dumfries.

More specifically, the cities of Galt, Kitchener, and Waterloo were previously independent single tier municipalities prior to joining the newly formed regional municipality. In the 1973 reorganization, the fifteen towns and townships of the county were reduced to just seven in the new Region of Waterloo. The new city of Cambridge was created through the amalgamation of the city of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, the village of Blair, and various parcels of township land. One township vanished when the former Waterloo Township was divided among Woolwich Township and the three cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. The community of Bridgeport was annexed to the city of Kitchener. Erbsville was annexed to the city of Waterloo. The former county government was given broader powers as a regional municipality.

The Region of Waterloo, with Jack A. Young as the first Chairman, took over many services, including Police, waste management, recreation, planning, roads and social services.

The Region is 1,369 square kilometres in size and its regional seat of government is in Kitchener. The Region's population was 535,154 at the 2016 census. The former village, town and city councils joined into the council of a new township or city. An overseeing regional council handles the former county-level responsibilities, as well as now providing police and other service for the Region as a whole.