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) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , blank_emblem_type = Logo , blank_emblem_size = 100x90px , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Canada#Canada Southern Ontario#CAN ON Waterloo , pushpin_map_caption = , subdivision_type =
Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
, subdivision_type1 =
Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
, subdivision_name =
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
, subdivision_name1 =
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, subdivision_type2 =
Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
, subdivision_name2 = Waterloo , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name =
Berry Vrbanovic Berry Vrbanovic (born August 19, 1966) is a Croatian Canadian politician who has served as mayor of Kitchener, Ontario since the 2014 municipal election. Berry attended St. Jerome's High School, and graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University wit ...
, leader_title2 = Governing Body , leader_name2 =
Kitchener City Council Kitchener City Council is the governing body for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the Mayor of Kitchener and 10 ward councillors. 2006-2010 Council elected in the 2006 municipal election. 2010-2014 Council elec ...
, established_title = Founded , established_date = 1807 , established_title1 = Incorporated , established_date1 = 1833 , established_title2 = Incorporated , established_date2 = 1912 (city) , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = 136.81 , area_land_km2 = 136.81 , area_water_km2 = , area_urban_km2 = 269.23 , area_metro_km2 = 1,091.16 , population_as_of = 2021 , population_footnotes = , population_total = 256,885 , population_urban = 470,015 ( 10th) , population_metro = 575,847 ( 10th) , population_density_km2 = auto , population_density_urban_km2 = 1745.8 , population_density_metro_km2 = 480.1 , postal_code_type = Forward sortation area , postal_code = N2A to N2H, N2M to N2R , area_codes = 519, 226 and 548 , blank_name_sec2 = GDP (Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo ) , blank_info_sec2 = CA$29.3 billion (2017) , blank1_name_sec2 = GDP per capita (Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo ) , blank1_info_sec2 = CA$52,484 (2016) , timezone = EST , utc_offset = −5 , coordinates = , timezone_DST = EDT , utc_offset_DST = −4 , blank1_name = GNBC Code , blank1_info = FEBWC , website
www.kitchener.ca
, footnotes = , population_demonym = Kitchenerite Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, about west of
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a 1916 referendum changed its name. The city covers an area of 136.86 km2, and had a population of 256,885 at the time of the
2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sl ...
. The Regional Municipality of Waterloo has 575,847 people, making it the 10th-largest census metropolitan area (CMA) in Canada and the fourth-largest CMA in Ontario. Kitchener and Waterloo are considered "twin cities", which are often referred to jointly as "Kitchener–Waterloo" (K–W), although they have separate municipal governments.


Geography and climate


Geography

Kitchener is located in Southwestern Ontario, in the Saint Lawrence Lowlands. This geological and climatic region has wet-climate soils and deciduous forests. Situated in the Grand River Valley, the area is generally above in elevation. Kitchener is the largest city in the Grand River watershed and the Haldimand Tract. Just to the west of the city is Baden Hill, in Wilmot Township. This glacial kame remnant formation is the highest elevation for many miles. The other dominant glacial feature is the
Waterloo Moraine The Waterloo Moraine is a landform and sediment body that was created as a moraine in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. It covers a large portion of the cities of Waterloo and Kitchener and the township of Wilmot, and s ...
, which snakes its way through the region, and holds a significant quantity of artesian wells, from which the city derives most of its drinking water. The settlement's first name, Sandhills, is an accurate description of the higher points of the moraine.


Climate

Kitchener has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
of the warm summer subtype (''Dfb'' under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
); large seasonal differences are seen, usually warm and humid summers and cold to occasionally very cold winters. Winter-like conditions generally last from the mid-December until mid-March, while summer temperatures generally occur from mid-May to close to the end of September. March 2012 went down in the history books for Kitchener – between 16 and 22 March, temperatures ranged from to —7 record highs in a row. 19 March high of is one of the highest winter temperatures ever recorded, while 22 March high of is the highest for March in this area. Temperatures during the year can exceed in the summer and drop below in the winter several times a year, but prolonged periods of extreme temperatures are rare. The frost-free period for Kitchener averages about 147 frost-free days a year, a much lower number than cities on the Great Lakes due its inland location and higher elevation. Snowfall averages per year; this is high, but not nearly as high as areas more directly affected by lake-effect snow. The highest temperature ever recorded in Kitchener was on August 6 and 7, 1918, and again on July 27, 1941. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on February 16, 2015.


History


Prehistory and protohistory

The archaeologist Gary Warrick dates the expansion of the Neutral people to the Kitchener-Waterloo area to the 1300s. A history states that at least two "aboriginal settlements from the 1500s can now be identified near Schneider and Strasburg Creeks" with some artifacts having been found under the city from a thousand years ago. The Iroquoian people grew crops such as corn, beans and squash. The finds include the remains of a First Nations village, estimated to be 500 years old, discovered in 2010 in the Strasburg Creek area of Kitchener. The inhabitants are thought to be ancestors of the
Neutral Nation The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation, Neutral people, or ''Attawandaron'' by neighbouring tribes) were an Iroquoian people who lived in what is now southwestern and south-central Ontario in Canada, North America. They lived throughout ...
; artifacts found include the remains of longhouses, tools made of bone and of stone and arrowheads. One archaeologist stated that they discovered "artifacts going back as far as 9,000 years". In 2020, a site at Fischer-Hallman Road was found to include artifacts from a "Late Woodland Iroquois village" that was inhabited circa 1300 to 1600. Archeologists found some 35,000 objects including stone tools and a 4,000 year old arrowhead.


Early European settlement


German Company Tract

Kitchener stands on a part of the Haldimand Tract, lands in the Grand River valley purchased in 1784 by the British from the Mississaugas in order to grant it to the Six Nations for their allegiance during the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. Between 1796 and 1798, the Six Nations sold 38,000 hectares of this land to loyalist Colonel Richard Beasley. The portion of land that Beasley purchased was remote, but of great interest to German
Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the R ...
farming families from
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. They wanted to live in an area that would allow them to practice their beliefs without persecution. Eventually, the Mennonites purchased all of Beasley's unsold land, creating 160 farm tracts. Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania, known as the Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsche (Deutsch; German-speaking mainly from Switzerland and the Palatinate, not modern Dutch), after November 1803 bought land in a 60,000-acre section of Block Two from the German Company, which was 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 400 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 Beasley, in cash, arrived from Pennsylvania in kegs, carried in a wagon surrounded by armed guards. The first settlers in the area of what would become the village of Doon (now a suburb of Kitchener) arrived in 1800. They were two Mennonites from Franklin County, Pennsylvania who were also brothers in law, Joseph Schoerg (later called Sherk) and Samuel Betzner, Jr. Joseph Schoerg and his wife settled on Lot 11, B.F. Beasley Black, S.R., on the bank of the Grand River opposite Doon, and Betzner and his wife settled on the west bank of the Grand, on a farm near the village of Blair. The homes built by the next generation of these families still stand as of March 2021, on what is now Pioneer Tower Road in Kitchener and have been listed as historically important; the John Betzner homestead (restored) and the David Schoerg farmstead (not yet restored) were erected circa 1830. By 1800, the first buildings in Berlin had been built, and over the next decade, several families made the difficult trip north to what was then known as the Sandhills. One of these Mennonite families, arriving in 1807, was the Schneiders, whose restored 1816 home (the oldest building in the city) is now a National Historic Site and museum in the heart of Kitchener. Other families whose names can still be found in local place names were the Bechtels, the Ebys, the Erbs, the Webers, the Cressmans, and the Brubachers. In 1816, the government of Upper Canada designated the settlement the Township of Waterloo. Much of the land, made up of moraines and swampland interspersed with rivers and streams, was converted to farmland and roads. Wild pigeons, which once swarmed by the tens of thousands, were driven from the area. Apple trees were introduced to the region by John Eby in the 1830s, and several
gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
s and sawmills were erected throughout the area, most notably Joseph Schneider's 1816 sawmill, John and
Abraham Erb Abraham Erb (12 July 17726 September 1830), sometimes called the founder of Waterloo, Ontario, was the first Mennonite settler from Pennsylvania. His brother John is considered the founder of the Preston community in Cambridge, Ontario. Abraham o ...
's grist- and sawmills, Jacob Shantz's sawmill, and Eby's cider mill. Schneider built Berlin's first road, from his home to the corner of King Street and Queen Street (then known as Walper Corner). The settlers raised $1,000 to extend the road from Walper Corner to Huether Corner, where the Huether Brewery was built and the Huether Hotel now stands in the city of Waterloo; a petition to the government for $100 to assist in completing the project was denied.


Settlement before Ebytown (1804–1806)

Members of the Eby family, most notably Benjamin Eby, began migrating to the German Company Tract lands in the first decade of the 19th century. The Ebys were an old
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...
Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the R ...
family with an association with religious non-conformist movements in Europe going back possibly as far as the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, and who were early followers of
Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
. Jacob Eby, an ancestor of the Ebys who migrated to Upper Canada, was a Mennonite bishop in the Swiss canton of
Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...
in 1683. The family first migrated to
the Palatinate The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the we ...
, then to
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, settling in Lancaster County. In Lancaster County, members of the family, such as Peter Eby (1765–1843), continued to act as Mennonite religious leaders. The Ebys became involved in early land settlement of the German Company Tract, with a number arriving between 1804 and 1807 and taking up farming plots. Two brothers, George and Samuel ("Indian Sam") Eby, arrived in 1804 and settled on Lot 1 of the German Company Tract, near the area of what would become downtown Kitchener. George Eby's farmstead was located one mile southeast from the future Berlin town core. It was later owned by
Jacob Yost Shantz Jacob Yost Shantz (2May 182228October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario ( which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held ...
, who built a large farmhouse there in 1856 at what became the corner of Maurice and Ottawa Streets. Samuel Eby settled on the northwest part of Lot 1 and soon became a close associate of the Mississaugas who lived in the area, selling whisky to them.


Ebytown to Berlin (1806–1852)

Later named the founder of Berlin, Benjamin Eby (made Mennonite preacher in 1809, and bishop in 1812) arrived from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1806, and purchased a large tract of land consisting of much of what would become the village of Berlin, so named in 1833). The settlement was initially called Ebytown, and was at the south-east side of what later became Queen Street. Eby was also responsible for the growth of the Mennonite church in Waterloo County. By 1811, Eby had built a log Mennonite meeting house first used as a school house, but later also housing religious services. A new meeting house, known as Eby's Versammlungshaus, near Stirling Avenue, replaced the log house in 1834, while a schoolhouse was built on Frederick Street about the same time. Benjamin Eby encouraged manufacturers and craftsmen to relocate to Ebytown. Jacob Hoffman came in 1829 or 1830, and started the first furniture factory. 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, settlers commonly formed a building "bee" to help newcomers erect a log home. Immigration from Lancaster County continued heavily in the 1820s because of a severe agricultural depression there. Joseph Schneider, from that area, 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 became the nucleus of Berlin. The home was renovated over a century later and still stands. The village centre of Ebytown 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 Ebytown was still considered to be a
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
.
Friedrich Gaukel Friedrich Gaukel (9June 1784 or 7June 17858November 1853), also known as Frederick Gaukel, was a German-Canadian farmer, distiller, and innkeeper. He was born in Württemberg in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. He immigrated first to ...
, another prominent early local figure, purchased the Varnum tavern site in the early 1830s, along with other lands around the growing village. In a November 1833 transaction, he purchased lands located along the village's main street (later known as King Street) from Joseph Schneider. The deeds of sale for this transaction are the earliest recorded use of the name Berlin to refer to the community. The
1826–1837 cholera pandemic The second cholera pandemic (1826–1837), also known as the Asiatic cholera pandemic, was a cholera pandemic that reached from India across Western Asia to Europe, Great Britain, and the Americas, as well as east to China and Japan.Note: ...
affected Bridgeport in 1832 and Berlin in 1834.
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...
, then a significant port of entry for immigrants to Canada, was linked to the 1832 outbreak, which also affected other nearby settlements such as Guelph and Brantford. At Bridgeport, two English families who had recently arrived from
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
contracted the disease after passing through Hamilton, and several died after arriving at the community. They also spread it to an already-settled family, the Hemblings, a number of whom also died, including adults. Orphaned children from these families were later adopted by local Mennonites. The ''Smith's Canadian Gazetteer'' of 1846 describes Berlin as: "... contains about 400 inhabitants, who are principally Germans. A newspaper is printed here, called the "''German Canadian''" and there is a Lutheran meeting house. Post Office, post twice a-week. Professions and Trades.—One physician and surgeon, one lawyer, three stores, one brewery, one printing office, two taverns, one pump maker, two blacksmiths." The Township of Waterloo (smaller than Waterloo County) consisted primarily of Pennsylvanian Mennonites and immigrants directly from Germany who had brought money with them. At the time, many did not speak English. There were eight grist and twenty saw mills in the township. In 1841, the township population count was 4,424. The first cemetery in the city was the one next to Pioneer Tower in Doon; the first recorded burial at that location was in 1806. The cemetery at First Mennonite church is not as old, but contains the graves of some notable citizens, including Bishop Benjamin Eby, who died in 1853, Joseph Schneider, and Rev. Joseph Cramer, founder of the House of Friendship social service agency.


County seat (1853)

Previously part of the United County of Waterloo, Wellington, and Grey, Waterloo became a separate entity in 1853 with Berlin as
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
. Some contentious debate had existed between Galt and Berlin as to where the seat would be located; one of the requirements for founding was the construction of a
courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...
and jail. When local merchant Joseph Gaukel donated a small parcel of land he owned (at the current Queen and
Weber Street Weber Street (, ) is a major roadway connecting the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It forms a component of Waterloo Regional Road 8, whose route designation continues along several other roads in south Kitchener and Cambri ...
s), this sealed the deal for Berlin, which was still a small community compared to Galt. The courthouse at the corner of the later Queen Street North and Weber Street and the gaol were built within a few months. The first county council meeting was held in the new facility on 24 January 1853, as the county officially began operations. The Waterloo County Gaol is the oldest government building in the Region of Waterloo. The Governor's House, home of the "gaoler", in a mid-Victorian Italian Villa style, was added in 1878. Both have been extensively restored and are on the
Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; french: Le Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic sites in Canada which have been formally recognized for their he ...
.


"Busy Berlin" (late 19th century)


Arrival of the railways

The extension of the Grand Trunk Railway from Sarnia to Toronto (and hence through Berlin) in July 1856 was a major boon to the community, helping to improve industrialization in the area. Immigrants from Germany, mostly Lutheran and Catholic, dominated the city after 1850, and developed their own newer German celebrations and influences, such as the Turner societies, gymnastics, and band music.About Kitchener
In 1869, Berlin had a population of 3000. In the late 1880s, the idea of a street railway connection to Waterloo was promoted, resulting in the construction of the
Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway was a street railway in Berlin (renamed Kitchener) and Waterloo in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Horsecar service began in 1888 under the original Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway name and conti ...
in 1888. It was electrified in 1895, making it the first electric railway in Berlin, though not the first in the county, as the Galt and Preston Street Railway had opened with electric operation in 1894. This was followed by the construction of the Preston and Berlin Street Railway in 1904, which connected Berlin to
Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...
(now a part of Cambridge) to the southeast.


House of Industry and Refuge

In 1869, the county government 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 in 1951; the building was later demolished. It was 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. A 2009 report by the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...
'' explains, "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 residents, digitized it, and made the archive available online. According to Sandy Hoy, a director of research projects, the "inmates" included not only the poor, but also those with disabilities, women, and children. Some were single women who had been servants and became pregnant. Since there were no social services, they were sent to the House. "We saw a lot of young, single mothers in the records," said Laura Coakley, a research co-ordinator. 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. Two cemeteries for the poor also were nearby, including "inmates" of the house who had died.


Civic institutions

On 9 June 1912, Berlin was designated a city. At this time, the City Hall was in the two-story building at King and Frederick Streets that had also been used as the Berlin town hall, completed in 1869 by builder Jacob Y. Shantz. During its tenure, the structure was also used as a library, theatre, post/telegraph office, market, and jail. That building was demolished in 1924 and replaced by a new structure behind it, designed by architects William Schmalz and Bernal Jones, featuring a classical-revival style and a large civic square in front. Demolished in 1973, and replaced by an office tower and the Market Square shopping mall, the old City Hall's clock tower was later (1995) erected in Victoria Park. The building was not replaced by the current
Kitchener City Hall Kitchener City Hall is the seat of municipal government of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It has gone through many iterations through the 20th century, culminating in the current building, which opened in 1993. History The original location of ...
on King Street until 1993; the architect for the latter was Bruce Kuwabara. During the interim years, the city had occupied leased premises on Frederick Street. Kitchener was in many cases within Ontario the earliest adopter, or one of the earliest adopters, of many municipal institutions which later became commonplace. These institutions included library boards, planning boards, and conservation authorities. Known collectively as the agencies, boards, and commissions (or ABCs), these special-purpose bodies became a characteristic element of Canadian governance. The ABCs movement in Kitchener began in the 1890s with the passage of the 1894 ''Public Parks Act'' transferring management of the town's parkland from a committee of the town council to a parks board, an initiative which ultimately led to the creation of Victoria Park. A prominent supporter of this movement was
John Richard Eden John Richard Eden (October 14, 1859 – after 1917) was a financial agent and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as mayor of Berlin from 1899 to 1900 and from 1902 to 1903.* He was born in Waterloo township, Waterloo County, Canada We ...
, who would later become mayor of the town in 1899. The parks board was followed in 1899 by a water commission, whose creation was heavily supported by local industrialists following a devastating fire at a local factory in 1896, as well as due to the need by many industries for a reliable water supply. The town's local gas plant and electric utility was similarly municipalized in 1903, resulting in the creation of the Berlin Light Commission. Facing a mounting sewage problem, especially as a result of effluent from the town's industrial
tanneries Tanning may refer to: * Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather * Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun ** Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dy ...
, local leaders in Berlin campaigned at a provincial level to be allowed to create a sewage commission, for which there was no provision in provincial legislation. Ultimately, a private bill was passed, allowing Berlin to create the first sewage commission in Canada in 1904. The
Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway was a street railway in Berlin (renamed Kitchener) and Waterloo in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Horsecar service began in 1888 under the original Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway name and conti ...
was soon also taken over and municipalized. Kitchener was the first city in Ontario to get hydroelectric power in long-distance transmission lines from Niagara Falls, on October 11, 1910. The growing roster of public utilities managed by the Light Commission led to its reorganization into the
Kitchener Public Utilities Commission The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission (KPUC, or PUC) was the municipal public utilities commission for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, as well as the surrounding area. Its former office in downtown Kitchener, constructed in 1931 in ...
in 1924, which operated as the municipal gas, electric, and light utility, as well as the local street railway operator.


Berlin to Kitchener

Berlin's character had been predominantly German since Waterloo Township's settlement by Pennsylvania Dutch pioneers in the early 19th century, and its urban growth and industrialization was bolstered in large part by Germans and other peoples from
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
, who brought with them skills, tools, and machinery, as well as diverse religious and social customs. The outbreak of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
pitted the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
(and by extension, Canada) against the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, and led to a wave of suspicion, exclusion, and discriminatory measures against people whose ethnic origins were associated with these states. Thousands of
Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...
, Germans, Turks, and
Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...
were forcibly placed into internment camps by the Dominion government under the ''
War Measures Act The ''War Measures Act'' (french: Loi sur les mesures de guerre; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could t ...
'', which was passed in August 1914. Internees had their property confiscated and many of them were subjected to forced labour. Tens of thousands of others were subjected to government surveillance. In Berlin, anti-German sentiment slowly escalated throughout the war, beginning with the vandalizing of the statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Victoria Park in 1914. Despite pronouncements of loyalty and commitment to the war effort, the city's German community was subjected to physical violence and attacks on property by soldiers of the 118th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In a set of referendums in 1916, Berlin was renamed to Kitchener, after Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British field marshal. The first referendum vote in May, to change the name from Berlin, was characterized by the historian Adam Crerar as being influenced by voter intimidation, with soldiers of the 118th Battalion keeping potential name change opponents away from the polls; the referendum passed by a narrow margin. A second referendum in June, to choose the new name, saw the name "Kitchener" chosen with only 346 votes. In September, the city of 19,000 people was renamed.


German culture

Of the cities that are now part of Waterloo Region, Berlin, now Kitchener, has the strongest German heritage because of the high levels of settlement in this area by German-speaking immigrants. While those 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 first. He built 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 during the 1830s to 1850s, bringing with them their language, religion, and cultural traditions. 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, though with different dialects such as Low German or the incorrectly called Pennsylvania Dutch, actually Pennsilfaanisch ''Deitsch'' (German, not modern Dutch). (This dialect is different from
Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...
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 spoke similar dialects and 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 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 in Berlin that attracted an estimated 10,000 people and continued for several years. Eleven years later, the more than 2000 Germans in Berlin, Ontario, started a new event, ''Friedensfest'', commemorating Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian war. This annual celebration continued until the start of World War I. In 1897, they raised funds to erect a large monument, with a bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm 1, in Victoria Park. The monument was destroyed by townspeople just after the start of World War I. A statue of Queen Victoria was erected in the park in 1911. By 1871, 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 and activities at Lutheran churches in Waterloo County continued. As anti-German sentiment increased throughout Waterloo County, many of the churches decided to stop holding services in German."City on Edge: Berlin Becomes Kitchener in 1916" Exhibit at Waterloo Region Museum, on display 2016. The governor general of Canada, the
Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...
, while visiting Berlin, Ontario, in May 1914, discussed the importance of
Canadians of German ethnicity German Canadians (german: Deutsch-Kanadier or , ) are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Germans, German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 Canadian census, 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians wi ...
(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". In 1897 a large bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I, made by Reinhold Begas and shipped from Germany, was installed at Victoria Park, Kitchener to honour the region's prominent German-Canadian population. It was removed and thrown into the lake by vandals in August 1914 at the beginning of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. The bust was recovered from the lake and moved to the nearby Concordia club, but it was stolen again February 15, 1916, marched through the streets by a mob, made up largely of soldiers from the 118th Battalion, and has never been seen again. The 118th Battalion is rumoured to have melted down the bust to make napkin rings given to its members. A monument with a plaque outlining the story of the original bust was erected in 1996 in the location of the original bust and its stand. As the incidents with the bust suggest, there was certainly some anti-German sentiment in Canada. Some immigrants from Germany who considered themselves Canadians but were not yet citizens, were detained in internment camps. There were some cultural sanctions on German communities in Canada, and that included Berlin. 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 pacifists 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." Someone stole the bust of Kaiser Wilhelm from Victoria Park; soldiers vandalized German stores and ransacked Berlin's ethnic clubs. History professor Mark Humphries summarized the situation: 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 The Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower was built in 1926 in Kitchener to commemorate the arrival of the Pennsylvania Dutch to Southwestern Ontario. It was conceived by William Henry Breithaupt, who wanted to heal wounds of nationalism fomented in th ...
built in 1926 commemorates the settlement by the Pennsylvania 'Dutch' (actually Pennsilfaanisch ''Deitsch'', or German) of the Grand River area of Waterloo County. The Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest is a remembrance of the region's German heritage. The event includes beer halls and German entertainment. The second largest Oktoberfest in the world, the event is based on the original
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
Oktoberfest and is billed as "Canada's Greatest
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
n Festival". It attracts 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. Granted, some do not consider Oktoberfest to be indicative of German culture in general. "The fact is, Oktoberfest in Germany is a very localized festival. It really is a Munich festival. ... ktoberfest in Kitchenercelebrates only a 'tiny aspect' of German culture avarian, according to German studies professor James Skidmore of the University of Waterloo.


Suburban development (20th century)

The interwar and postwar periods saw a wave of suburban development around the city. One prominent example of this was the Westmount neighbourhood. Modelled after the affluent Montreal suburb of the same name, it was developed on the forested hills to the north of the Schneider farmstead on lands that were subdivided from it. Kitchener's Westmount took a number of its street names from the model subdivision in Montreal, such as Belmont Avenue. It was the brainchild of a local rubber magnate, Talmon Henry Rieder, who was heavily connected to Montreal business interests and who oversaw the 1912 construction of the
Dominion Tire Plant The Dominion Tire Plant, later known as the Uniroyal Tire Plant then the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Plant and today known as AirBoss Rubber Compounding is a rubber and tire company located on Glasgow Street in Kitchener, Ontario. It is the largest i ...
on nearby Strange Street. Rieder was inspired by the turn-of-the-century City Beautiful movement, which was focused in large part on construction of monumental civic architecture and urban beautification; it is often associated with
Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorpo ...
in North America. Rieder's own interpretation of the movement's philosophy followed a variation of the influential landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
's "Suburb Beautiful", with Rieder proclaiming Westmount the "Development Beautiful". It reflected an alienation from industrial cities and dense urban centres, driven by a variety of factors. These included concerns around the health impact of air pollution and desire for "country air"; the ability for people to commute longer distances being enabled by motor vehicles; the availability of large, cheap plots of development land; an increasing emphasis on the "restricted residential subdivision" and restrictive covenants barring industrial and commercial development in exclusive residential neighbourhoods (an antecedent to modern zoning); and a desire by Berlin-turned-Kitchener's ethnically German business class, in the wake of the city's turmoil over its German identity during the First World War, to distance themselves from its 19th century past and the downtown area associated with it in favour of a built environment similar to wealthy Anglo-Canadians in other Canadian cities, such as Montreal and Winnipeg. The fortunes of Rieder and other rubber industrialists were linked to the rise of the automobile industry in Canada, and indirectly to the growth of automobile-linked suburbs. Lands formerly in the rural Waterloo Township were annexed to the city, ensuring suburban access to municipal services. Westmount's planners distinguished the suburb from Kitchener's urban core in fundamental ways, such as the adoption of wandering, curvilinear roads combined with a more traditionally urban grid pattern. Many streets were originally intended to be wide boulevards, with some, such as Union Boulevard, planned to be as wide as . Winding streets and picturesque vistas were a significant part of advertising for the subdivision.


Economy

Kitchener's economic heritage is rooted in manufacturing. Industrial artifacts are in public places throughout the city as a celebration of its manufacturing history. While the local economy's reliance on manufacturing has decreased, in 2012, 20.36% of the labour force was employed in the manufacturing sector. The city is home to four municipal business parks: the Bridgeport Business Park, Grand River West Business Park, Huron Business Park and Lancaster Corporate Centre. The largest, the Huron Business Park, is home to a number of industries, from seat manufacturers to furniture components. Some of the notable companies headquartered in Kitchener include:
Waterloo Brewing Company Waterloo Brewing LTD., formerly the Brick Brewing Company, is a brewery based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, with several divisions. Waterloo is reportedly the largest Canadian-owned brewer in the province, and it was also Ontario's first moder ...
,
D2L D2L (or Desire2Learn) is a Canada-based global software company with offices in Australia, Brazil, Europe, Singapore, and the United States. D2L is the developer of the Brightspace learning management system, a cloud-based software suite ...
,
Vidyard Vidyard is a software company headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, that creates software to host and analyze video performance. The company was founded in May 2010. Beginnings Originally starting as a fourth-year design project at the Universit ...
, and ApplyBoard. Kitchener's economy has diversified to include new high-value economic clusters. In addition to Kitchener's internationally recognized finance and insurance and manufacturing clusters, digital media and health science clusters are emerging within the city. Beginning in 2004, the City of Kitchener launched several initiatives to re-energize the downtown core. These initiatives included heavy investment, on behalf of the city and its partners, and the creation of a
Downtown Kitchener Action Plan ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
. The modern incarnation of its historic farmers’ market, opened in 2004. The Kitchener Market is one of the oldest consistently operating markets in Canada. The Kitchener Market features local producers, international cuisine, artisans, and craftspeople. In 2009, the City of Kitchener began a project to reconstruct and revitalize the main street in Kitchener's downtown core, King Street. In the reconstruction of King Street, several features were added to make the street more friendly to pedestrians. New lighting was added to the street, sidewalks were widened, and curbs were lowered. Movable bollards were installed to add flexibility to the streetscape, accommodating main street events and festivals. In 2010, the redesigned King Street was awarded the International Community Places Award for its flexible design intended to draw people into the downtown core. In 2009, Tree Canada recognized King Street as a ''green street''. The redesigned King Street features several environmentally sustainable elements such as new street trees, bike racks, planter beds that collect and filter storm water, street furnishing made primarily from recycled materials, and an improved waste management system. The street was reconstructed using recycled roadway and paving stones. In September 2012, the City of Toronto government used Kitchener's King Street as a model for Celebrate Yonge – a month-long event which reduced Yonge Street to two lanes, widening sidewalks to improve the commercial street for businesses and pedestrians. The groundbreaking ceremony for the
University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy The School of Pharmacy is a professional school of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, within the Faculty of Science. It was previously housed in Faculty of Science buildings on the main university campus in Waterloo, but was re-locate ...
and downtown health sciences campus took place on 15 March 2006, and the facility opened in spring 2009. The building is on King Street near Victoria Street, on the site of the old Epton plant, across the street from the Kaufman Lofts (formerly the Kaufman shoe factory). McMaster University later opened a satellite campus for its
Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, known as the McMaster University School of Medicine prior to 2004, is the medical school of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences. It ...
next to the University of Waterloo's School of Pharmacy. The Health Sciences Campus has been central to the emergence of Kitchener's health science cluster. In 2007, Cadan Inc., a Toronto-based real estate development company, bought what had been the Lang Tannery for $10 million. Supported by the local government, Cadan repurposed the building for use by commercial firms. Since its refurbishment, the Tannery has become a hub for digital media companies, both large and small.
Desire2Learn D2L (or Desire2Learn) is a Canada-based global software company with offices in Australia, Brazil, Europe, Singapore, and the United States. D2L is the developer of the Brightspace learning management system, a cloud-based software s ...
, an e-learning company, in the Tannery as the company expanded. In 2011, Communitech moved into the Tannery. Home to over 800 companies, Communitech is a hub for innovative high-tech companies in the fields of information technology, digital media, biomedical, aerospace, environmental technology and advanced manufacturing. Also in 2011, high-tech giant
Google Inc. Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. It ...
became a tenant of the Tannery, furthering its reputation as a home for leading high-tech companies. The Kitchener office is a large hub for the development for Google's Gmail application. In 2016, the University of Waterloo-sponsored startup hub Velocity Garage relocated to the building, bringing over 100 additional startup companies into the Tannery. The Province of Ontario built a new provincial courthouse in downtown Kitchener, on the block bordered by Frederick, Duke, Scott and Weber streets. The new courthouse was expected to create new jobs, mainly for the courthouse, but also for other businesses, especially law offices. The new courthouse construction began in 2010. In the downtown area, several factories have been transformed into upscale lofts and residences. In September 2010, construction began on the ‘City Centre’ redevelopment project in downtown Kitchener. This redevelopment project will include condominium units, new retail spaces, private and public parking, a gallery, and a boutique hotel. The former Arrow shirt factory has been converted into a luxury, high-rise apartment building, featuring loft condominiums. In 2012, Desire2Learn, in downtown Kitchener, received $80 million in venture capitalist funding from OMERS Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. The downtown area was in a boom phase by late 2017, with $1.2 billion in building permits for 20 new developments expected by the end of February 2019. That would add 1,000 apartments and 1,800 condominium units. The City indicated that the development would be a "mixture of high-density residential buildings with ground-floor retail, and office buildings with ground-floor retail". Since the Ion rapid transit (light rail) system, operated by
Grand River Transit Grand River Transit (GRT) is the public transport operator for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It operates daily bus services in the region, primarily in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, alongside the ...
, was approved in 2009, "the region has issued $2.4 billion in building permits within the LRT corridor".


Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...
, Kitchener had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Kitchener - Cambridge - Waterloo CMA had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


Ethnicity

According to the 2016 Census, Kitchener is approximately 76.3% White, 21.8% visible minorities, and 1.9% Aboriginal. Visible minorities include: 5.0% South Asian, 4.1%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
, 2.6%
Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
, 2.3%
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
n, 2.1% Chinese, 1.8%
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
, 1.2%
West Asian Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes An ...
, and 0.7% Filipino. The most common ethnicities in Kitchener as per the 2016 census are Canadian (23.7%), German (22.2%), English (21.0%), Irish (16.4%), Scottish (16.2%), French (9.0%), Polish (5.5%), Dutch (4.3%), East Indian (3.6%) and Italian (3.3%).


Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Kitchener included: *
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
(131,390 persons or 51.7%) *
Irreligion Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ...
(81,475 persons or 32.1%) *
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
(19,140 persons or 7.5%) *
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(9,610 persons or 3.8%) *
Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
(6,520 persons or 2.6%) *
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
(3,015 persons or 1.2%) *
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
(525 persons or 0.2%) * Indigenous Spirituality (70 persons or <0.1%) *Other (2,400 persons or 0.9%) According to the 2011 census, 65.9% of the population identify as Christian, with
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(28.7%) making up the largest denomination, followed by
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
(5.3%), United Church (4.9%), Orthodox (4.3%),
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
(3.9%),
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...
(2.9%),
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...
(2.4%),
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movementMuslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
(4.9%),
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
(1.4%),
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
(1.2%), Sikh (0.6%), and with other religions. 25% of the population report no religious affiliation.


Government

Kitchener is governed by a council of ten councillors, representing wards (or districts), and a mayor. Council is responsible for policy and decision making, monitoring the operation and performance of the city, analyzing and approving budgets and determining spending priorities. The residents of each ward vote for one person to be their city councillor; their voice and representative on city council. Municipal elections are held every four years in late October. Kitchener was part of
Waterloo County Waterloo County was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario from 1853 until 1973. It was the direct predecessor of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. Situated on a subset of land within the Haldimand Tract, the traditional territory of ...
until 1973 when amalgamation created the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The region handles many services, including fire, police, waste management, community health, transit, recreation, planning, roads and social services. Kitchener residents elect four councillors at large to sit with the mayor on the Regional council. The mayor of Kitchener is
Berry Vrbanovic Berry Vrbanovic (born August 19, 1966) is a Croatian Canadian politician who has served as mayor of Kitchener, Ontario since the 2014 municipal election. Berry attended St. Jerome's High School, and graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University wit ...
, who was elected to his first term in October 2014. See
Kitchener City Council Kitchener City Council is the governing body for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the Mayor of Kitchener and 10 ward councillors. 2006-2010 Council elected in the 2006 municipal election. 2010-2014 Council elec ...
for a complete list of councillors. In 1976, residents of Kitchener voted almost 2:1 in favour of a ward system. The first municipal election held under the ward system occurred in 1978. In 2010, the city underwent a ward boundary review. A consultant proposed boundaries for a 10-ward system for the 2010 municipal election, adding 4 additional councillors and wards to replace the previous 6-ward system. The Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Kitchener Centre is
Laura Mae Lindo Laura Mae Monique Lindo (born 1976) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Kitchener Centre as a member of the Ontario New Democr ...
. Other MPPs include
Mike Harris Jr. Mike Harris Jr. (born 1985) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election.Jeff Outhit and Catherine Thompson"Mike Harris Jr. wins in Kitchener-Conestoga, taking riding previously ...
(Kitchener-Conestoga) and
Catherine Fife Catherine Eileen Fife (born ) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represents the riding of Waterloo. She has been a Member of Provincial Parliament since first winning ...
(Kitchener–Waterloo) who both represent small portions of the city in addition to adjacent areas. The federal Members of Parliament (MPs) are as follows:
Mike Morrice Michael Morrice (born July 22, 1984) is a Canadian politician serving as the member of Parliament (MP) for Kitchener Centre since 2021. A member of the Green Party, Morrice was elected to the House of Commons in the 2021 federal election, becom ...
(
Kitchener Centre Kitchener Centre (french: Kitchener-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Geography The district includes the north-central and north-eastern parts o ...
), Tim Louis ( Kitchener-Conestoga),
Valerie Bradford Valerie Bradford is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2021 Canadian federal election. Background Prior to her election, Bradford was an economic ...
(
Kitchener South—Hespeler Kitchener South—Hespeler (french: Kitchener-Sud—Hespeler) is a federal electoral district in the Waterloo Region of Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since the 2015 election. History Kitchener So ...
) and The Hon. Bardish Chagger ( Waterloo).


Education

Kitchener has several public high schools, with Kitchener–Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, founded in 1855, being the oldest. It is located on King Street in the northern area of the city, not far from the boundary of Waterloo. In the 1950s and 1960s several new high schools were constructed, including
Eastwood Collegiate Institute Eastwood Collegiate Institute is a public high school located at 760 Weber Street East in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1956. The school teams are known as the "Lions ". Eastwood is known for its Provincially ranked soccer te ...
in what was then the southeastern part of the city in 1956,
Forest Heights Collegiate Institute Forest Heights Collegiate Institute (FHCI), shortened as Forest Heights or simply Forest, is a high school in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada that was established in 1964. It is run by the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). As of the 2019� ...
in the western Forest Heights part of the city in 1964,
Grand River Collegiate Institute Grand River Collegiate Institute is a public secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario. The school is located at 175 Indian Road. It is part of the Waterloo Region District School Board. As of November 2017, there are approximately 1250 full-time s ...
in the northeastern Heritage Park/Grand River Village area in 1967, and Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in the southern area of the Downtown core in 1967. In 2006, Huron Heights Secondary School opened in southwestern Kitchener. It opened with a limited enrollment of only 9th and 10th grade students, and has since expanded to full capacity in the 2008–2009 school year. The oldest Catholic high school in the city is St. Mary's High School, which opened in 1907 as a girls-only Catholic school. It was transformed into a
co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
institution in 1990 after the closure of the neighbouring St. Jerome's High School, which had been a boys-only Catholic school. The same year, a second Catholic high school,
Resurrection Catholic Secondary School Resurrection Catholic Secondary School is a Catholic high school in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Awards Resurrection CSS has a variety of awards that students can apply to annually. In addition, a collection of awards are pre ...
, opened in the west of the city, replacing St. Jerome’s High School, which operated from 1864 to 1990. In 2002, St. Mary's moved from its downtown location in favour of a new one in the city's southwest. The former St. Jerome's High School houses the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University. It opened at this location in 2006, bringing 300 faculty, staff and students to downtown Kitchener. The former St. Mary's High School building, meanwhile, has been transformed into both the head office of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board and the Kitchener Downtown Community Centre. The Doon neighbourhood, once a separate village, is now part of Kitchener. It is home to the primary campus of
Conestoga College Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, Conestoga serves approximately 23,000 registered students through campuses and training centres in ...
, one of the foremost non-university educational institutions in the province. For nine consecutive years, Conestoga has earned top overall ranking among Ontario colleges on the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) surveys, which measure graduate employment rates and satisfaction levels, and employer and student satisfaction. It is one of only seven polytechnical institutes in Canada. The University of Waterloo opened a School of Pharmacy in the downtown area. The City of Kitchener has contributed $30 million from its $110 million Economic Development Investment Fund, established in 2004, to the establishment of the UW Downtown Kitchener School of Pharmacy. Construction began in 2006, and the pharmacy program was launched in January 2008 with 92 students. The school is expected to graduate about 120 pharmacists annually and will become the home of the Centre for Family Medicine, where new family physicians will be trained, as well as an optometry clinic and the International Pharmacy Graduate Program. Construction on the $147 million facility was largely finished in spring 2009. The University of Waterloo's (UW) Downtown Kitchener Health Sciences Campus is also the site of a satellite campus for McMaster University's School of Medicine. The
Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, known as the McMaster University School of Medicine prior to 2004, is the medical school of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences. It ...
admits 28 students per year to the MD program at the Waterloo Regional Campus. Students complete their clinical placements at hospitals and medical centres in the Waterloo-Wellington Region. McMaster's satellite campus also features the Centre for Family Medicine, a family health team, and the University of Waterloo's School of Optometry clinic.
Emmanuel Bible College Emmanuel Bible College is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian Bible college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. History In response to a need for trained Christian leaders, the college was established in 1940 as a Bible school i ...
is also in Kitchener, at 100 Fergus Avenue.


Health care

Hospital services are provided by
Grand River Hospital Grand River Hospital is a 665-bed hospital serving Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, and surrounding communities, primarily through its KW and Freeport Sites, both located in Kitchener. The two sites were independent hospitals that merged to for ...
which includes a Freeport Campus and
St. Mary's General Hospital St. Mary's General Hospital is a 147-bed adult acute-care facility in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada serving Waterloo Region and surrounding area. St. Mary’s is the second-largest acute care hospital in the St. Joseph’s Health System. It is th ...
, both located in Kitchener, as well as Cambridge Memorial Hospital. All three were highly ranked for safety in a national comparison study in 2017–2018, particularly the two located in Kitchener, but all would benefit from reduced wait times. Long-term care beds are provided at numerous facilities. Grand River Hospital has a capacity of 574-beds; Freeport Health Centre was merged into GRH in April 1995. That secondary campus provides complex continuing care, rehabilitation, longer-term specialized mental health and other services. Built originally as a tuberculosis sanatorium and home for the terminally ill, Freeport also housesthe palliative care unit. The King St. location is also the home of the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre which opened in 2003. St. Mary's General Hospital is a 150-bed adult acute-care facility and includes the Regional Cardiac Care Centre with two cardiovascular operating rooms, an eight-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit and 45 inpatient beds. As of late 2018, Cambridge Memorial had 143 beds but was in the midst of a major expansion expected to be completed in 2021; that will add 54 new beds and double the size of the Emergency department. Family doctors are often in short supply in K-W, and a source of great concern among residents. Recruiting efforts over the previous 15 years certainly achieved some success as of September 2018, but needed to be continued. Announced January 2006, as a new School of Medicine, the Waterloo Regional Campus of McMaster University was completed in 2009. In 2018, the campus included "a complete on-site clinical skills laboratory with 4 skills rooms and 2 observation rooms, classrooms with video-conferencing capabilities and a state-of-the-art anatomy lab that was built in 2013 with a high definition video system", according to the university. Its Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine building includes the Centre for Family Medicine and the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science.


Culture

Kitchener's cultural highlights include CAFKA, The Open Ears Festival, IMPACT theatre festival, the Multicultural Festival, the Kitchener Blues Festival and KidsPark, many of which are free to the public. Kitchener is also home to venues such as Homer Watson House & Gallery, Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery,
THEMUSEUM TheMuseum (stylized THEMUSEUM, formerly the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum until 2010) is an art and technology museum in Kitchener, Ontario. It opened to the public in September 2003 after eight years of planning and fundraising. TheMuseum ...
, JM Drama Alumni and Centre In The Square. Also the cities recently had two local and regional museums built in the region, one being the Waterloo Region Children Museum and the
Doon Heritage Village Doon Heritage Village, located at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, is a picturesque 60 acre living history village that shows visitors what life was like in the Waterloo Region in the year 1914. It is located in the former Doon, Ontario, Do ...
. Live music by popular artists can be heard at venues such as Centre In The Square and The Aud. The
Kitchener Public Library The Kitchener Public Library is the public library system for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It consists of five libraries; a large Central Library in the downtown core, with four Community Libraries spread out to provide services for th ...
is another community stalwart. Kitchener is also home to independent music label,
Busted Flat Records Busted Flat Records is Ontario based independent record label, founded in 2002. History Mark Logan, the owner of a vinyl music store in Kitchener, Encore Records, started Busted Flat Records in 2002 to record and release a live album by Shannon ...
which features the music of many Kitchener–Waterloo based musicians.


Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest

Kitchener–Waterloo's Oktoberfest celebration is an annual nine-day event that started in 1969. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as ''Canada's Greatest
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
n Festival''. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after. It is the largest Bavarian festival outside of Germany. While its best-known draws are the
beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
-based celebrations, other family and cultural events also fill the week. The best-known is the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade held on Thanksgiving Day; as it is the only major parade on Canadian Thanksgiving, it is televised nationally. Another icon of the festival is Miss Oktoberfest. This festival ambassador position is selected by a closed committee of judges from a panel of local applicants; community involvement and personal character are the main selection criteria. The festival attracts an average of 700,000 people. During the 2016 Oktoberfest parade, an estimated 150,000 lined the streets along the route.


Kitchener–Waterloo in film and music

Various locations in Kitchener and Waterloo were used to portray the fictional Ontario town of Wessex in the filming of Canadian television sitcom '' Dan for Mayor'', starring '' Corner Gas'' star Fred Ewanuick. A local folk group, Destroy All Robots, wrote a tongue-in-cheek song jibing the city of Kitchener, "Battle Hymn of the City of Kitchener, Ontario".


Kitchener Blues Festival

The Kitchener Blues Festival is a four-day festival in downtown Kitchener dedicated to blues music, always held in August on the weekend following the civic holiday. The festival has expanded to four stages and two workshop stages throughout the downtown area, with over 90 performances. It has grown from a one-day event with an attendance of 3,000 to a four-day event with over 150,000 attending. In 2014 the Kitchener Blues Festival celebrated its 14th year.


Kitchener–Waterloo Multicultural Festival

This is a two-day event in Victoria Park commencing usually on the first weekend of the summer. Run by the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, the festival features foods, dance and music from around the world. The festival also showcases several vendors that sell artifacts and crafts from around the world. This festival has been ongoing for well over 40 years. Well over 50,000 attend every year.


KOI Music Festival

KOI Music Festival is a three-day festival held annually in downtown Kitchener each September. The festival was started in 2010 and has since expanded to include a free concert on Friday and a full day of performance Saturday and Sunday. KOI features more than 100 rock bands every year, with a large focus on local, independent musicians. Notable past performers include Every Time I Die, Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, Chiodos, Walk Off The Earth, Four Year Strong, Protest the Hero, Mad Caddies, Monster Truck, Gob, Treble Charger, Cute Is What We Aim For,
The Planet Smashers The Planet Smashers are a Canadian ska punk band from Montreal. Since their formation in 1993, they have been a staple of the Montreal music scene. During the third wave of ska, they performed nationally and later internationally, with tours in ...
, Bayside, and several hundred more.


Kultrun World Music Festival

Kultrún is an annual festival of world music, food, culture, and art that takes place in Victoria Park each July. Music from various cultures is performed on two stages, and the rest of the park is covered with vendors selling their goods. A key part of the festival is the large number of food stands selling foods from all different ethnic backgrounds.


LGBT culture

The Kitchener-Waterloo region is home to
tri-Pride Tri-Pride, stylized tri-Pride, is an annual non-profit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Pride festival in the Waterloo Region of Ontario, encompassing the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. Prior to the launch of Gue ...
and the
Rainbow Reels Queer and Trans Film Festival The Rainbow Reels Queer and Trans Film Festival is an annual LGBTQ film festival in Kitchener- Waterloo, Ontario. First staged in 2001, the festival was launched by WPIRG and staged primarily at the University of Waterloo's Davis Centre. It sub ...
. Unlike most LGBT pride events, tri-Pride does not currently organize a parade, but instead is centred on an afternoon music festival on the final weekend.


Recreation

The Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony is located in Kitchener, which performs over 222 concerts annually to an audience of over 90,000, both in the concert hall and across
Waterloo Region The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...
. The KWS continues to be the largest employer of artists and cultural workers and the most significant cultural asset for Waterloo Region. Kitchener's oldest outdoor park is Victoria Park, in the heart of downtown Kitchener. Numerous events and festivities are held in this park. A cast-bronze statue of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
is in Victoria Park, along with a cannon. The statue was unveiled in May 1911, on Victoria Day (the Queen's birthday) in the tenth year after her death. The Princess of Wales Chapter of the
Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) is a women's charitable organization based in Canada. It provides scholarships, bursaries, book prizes, and awards, and pursues other philanthropic and educational projects in various communities a ...
raised the $6,000 needed for the monument. Another significant beauty spot in the city is Rockway Gardens. Adjacent to the Rockway golf course, the gardens occupy a long narrow strip of land alongside King Street as it rushes down to meet the Conestoga Parkway and become Highway 8. Here there are many fountains, ponds, waterfalls and rock grottoes. It is a popular site for wedding photos in the summer. Kitchener has an extensive and safe community trail system. The trails, which are controlled and run by the city, are hundreds of kilometres in length. Due to Kitchener's close proximity to the Grand River, several community trails and paths border the river's shores. This convenient access to the Grand River has drawn nature-seeking tourists to the city. However, Kitchener's trails and especially natural areas remain underfunded by city council and as a result, many are not adequately maintained. In 2011, a bike park at the newly constructed McLennan Park, in the city's south end, was hailed as one of the best city-run bike parks in Southern Ontario by
BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...
and mountain biking enthusiasts. The bike park offers a four-cross (4X) section, a pump track section, a jump park, and a free-ride course. McLennan Park also features an accessible play area, a splash pad, basketball courts, beach volleyball courts, a leash-free dog area, and a toboggan hill.
Chicopee Ski Club Chicopee Ski & Summer Resort (formerly "Chicopee Ski Club") is a winter and summer recreation club in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, founded Dec. 29, 1934, as a not-for-profit organisation on . The Chicopee ski hill has a maximum vertical drop of ...
is also within the city limits.


Transport


Highways and expressways

Kitchener was very proactive and visionary about its transportation network in the 1960s, with the province undertaking at that time construction of the
Conestoga Parkway The Conestoga Parkway, officially the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway, is a controlled-access highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located entirely within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The route travels east and then north throu ...
from the western boundary (just past Homer Watson Boulevard) across the south side of the city and looping north along the Grand River to Northfield Drive in Waterloo. Subsequent upgrades took the Conestoga west beyond Trussler Road and north towards St Jacobs, with eight lanes through its middle stretch. The Conestoga Parkway bears the provincial highway designations of Highways 7, 8 and 85. King Street becomes Hwy 8 where it meets the Parkway in the south and leads down to the 401, but Old King Street survives as the street-route through Freeport to the Preston area of
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. Up until construction of the Conestoga, Highland Road through
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
had been the primary highway to Stratford. Victoria Street was then and remains the primary highway to
Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
but this is slated to be bypassed with an entirely new highway beginning at the Wellington Street exit and running roughly north of and parallel to the old route. There are two interchanges with
Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
on Kitchener's southern border. In addition to the primary link where Hwy 8 merges into the Hwy 401, there is another interchange on the west side with Homer Watson Boulevard. In order to reduce the congestion on Highway 8, a new interchange has been proposed on Highway 401 at Trussler Road, which would serve the rapidly growing west side of Kitchener. Although this proposal is supported by the Region of Waterloo, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has no plans to proceed with an interchange at Trussler Road.


City streets

Unlike most southern Ontario cities whose streets follow a strict British grid survey pattern, Kitchener's streets are laid out in a complex radial pattern on the Continental models most familiar to the German settlers. There is good historical reason for this. Kitchener was one of the few places in Ontario where the settlers arrived in advance of government surveyors. The Mennonites who had banded together as the German Company to purchase the township from Richard Beasley simply divided their vast parcel of land by the number of shareholder households and then drew random lots to confer title on individual farms. There was no grid survey done—no lines, no concessions, no right-of-way corridors for roads. When it came time to punch roads through the wilderness, the farmers modelled the road network on what was familiar to them, which was the pattern of villages in Switzerland and southern Germany. This is a Continental Radial pattern and the result was major streets extended through diagonals cutting across the grid of smaller streets and converging at multiple-point intersections which, as the communities became more prosperous and if the automobile had not displaced the horse, might someday have become roundabouts decorated with circular gardens, fountains or statuary in the style of European cities. Five-point intersections created by converging diagonals are legion in the older areas. In 2004, roundabouts were introduced to the Region of Waterloo. Besides improving traffic flow, they will help the region lower pollution from emissions created by idling vehicles. In 2006, the first two were installed along Ira Needles Boulevard in Kitchener. Some people argue roundabouts are ideal for intersections in this region because of the aforementioned historical growth along Continental radial patterns versus the British grid systems, but all installs have been at T and cross intersections making the point irrelevant. A controversial plan would extend River Road through an area known as Hidden Valley, but the pressure of traffic and the absence of any other full east–west arterials between Fairway Road and the Highway 401 is forcing this development ahead. Most streets that cross the municipal boundary between Kitchener and Waterloo retain the same street name in both cities. However, several streets which are divided into east and west sections in Kitchener shift to a north–south division in Waterloo. This primarily affects
Weber Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'. Notable pe ...
and
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
Streets and Westmount Road. Since these roads do not actually change their primary directional alignment significantly, (Weber Street and King Street, supposedly "Parallel" streets, cross 3 times), the shift in labelling can create confusion, since each of the aforementioned thoroughfares bears the labels north, south, west, and east on certain segments. However, it also reduces the potential confusion that would result from having separate west and east segments of the same street existing simultaneously in both cities. The problem with giving streets in Waterloo Region compass-based labels, and attempting to divide each of the cities into quadrants comes from the radial layout of the roads, and the historical patterns of development. Waterloo's quadrants, created by the intersection of King and Erb Streets, roughly correspond to compass directions, but Kitchener's quadrants, delineated by King and Queen Streets, do not resemble compass directions whatsoever. A notable case is that of Lancaster Street, which runs almost exactly north–south, but is designated as east–west, since it crosses Queen Street, which divides the "east" and "west" halves of the city, yet follows a northeast–southwest orientation itself.


Public transport


Early history

The earliest recorded urban public transport in Kitchener was a horse-drawn streetcar service along King Street, the
Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway was a street railway in Berlin (renamed Kitchener) and Waterloo in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Horsecar service began in 1888 under the original Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway name and conti ...
, which began operating in 1888. The system was electrified in 1895. The Preston and Berlin Street Railway, an
interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
service connecting Kitchener to
Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...
(now a part of Cambridge), began operation in 1904. It used a stretch of Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway tracks to access downtown Kitchener. In 1906, the Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway was municipalized and came under the management of the Berlin Light and Power Commission, which was renamed the Berlin Public Utilities Commission. It was later renamed the Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway following the city's official name change, with the commission also being renamed to the
Kitchener Public Utilities Commission The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission (KPUC, or PUC) was the municipal public utilities commission for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, as well as the surrounding area. Its former office in downtown Kitchener, constructed in 1931 in ...
(PUC). In 1923, the successor of the Preston and Berlin Street Railway, the Grand River Railway, built a new mainline which bypassed downtown Kitchener. Its new transfer point to the municipal streetcar system was Kitchener Junction station at what was then the south end of the city, which was also the site of the PUC's streetcar depot. Starting in 1939, buses began being used for crosstown bus services which intersected with the streetcar line. In 1947, the PUC replaced the street railway system with a
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
system. The streetcar rails were removed from King Street in the 1950s. In 1973, local bus services were transferred from the PUC to a newly created entity, Kitchener Transit. Shortly after this, trolleybus service was discontinued and the system was switched entirely to diesel buses. A new bus garage, located in the area of the former village of Strasburg, was opened in the mid-1970s. The new bus system was reorganized around a downtown bus terminal which was located on Duke Street. This was later replaced in 1988 by the
Charles Street Terminal The Charles Street Transit Terminal is a former bus terminal in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is the former downtown hub for local Grand River Transit (GRT) bus services for Kitchener and Waterloo, although the terminal now sits vacant and mos ...
, which itself was closed in 2019 following the launch of Ion light rail service.


Grand River Transit

In 2000, Kitchener Transit was merged with
Cambridge Transit Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...
and put under the management of the Region of Waterloo, becoming known as
Grand River Transit Grand River Transit (GRT) is the public transport operator for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It operates daily bus services in the region, primarily in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, alongside the ...
(GRT). GRT began reorganizing its expanded network, which now serves the three cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge as a unified regional transit system. In 2003, the Region of Waterloo received a federal grant to fund its Central Transit Corridor Express plan, which built on earlier proposals dating as far back as the 1970s for a regional express transit corridor connecting Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. Its initial implementation, in 2005, was a single-route, limited-stop express bus service branded as ''iXpress'', along with the implementation of technologies like transit signal priority (TSP) which were new to the region at the time. Major iXpress stations in Kitchener were , Fairview (now
Fairway station Fairway is a light rail station and bus station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Region of Waterloo's Ion rapid transit system. The station is located just off Wilson Avenue between Fairway Road and Kingsway Drive, adjacent to ...
), and the Charles Street Terminal. New iXpress routes were added in the years that followed, with the original route being rebranded as the 200 iXpress. After the launch of Ion light rail service in 2019, GRT bus routes were reorganized to connect with it, using the light rail system as a "spine" much like the earlier streetcar and trolleybus systems of the 20th century. , there are a total of 54 GRT bus routes throughout the Region of Waterloo; 48 are local and 6 are part of the iXpress system. A number of GRT routes connect Kitchener to the neighbouring cities of Waterloo and Cambridge. Travel on GRT to the township of Woolwich requires a transfer at
Conestoga station Conestoga station is located beside the King Street entrance on the westerly side of Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, Ontario. This facility operates as a major transit terminal for Grand River Transit (GRT) buses, with all of the routes that it ser ...
in Waterloo, and travel to the township of Wilmot requires a transfer at the Boardwalk mall, which straddles the municipal border between Kitchener and Waterloo. GRT, in partnership with Metrolinx, is working on a microtransit pilot project that would connect Kitchener with the community of Breslau, which is across the Grand River in eastern Woolwich township; the project's planned launch date is in 2021.


Light rail

Long-term planning around the Central Transit Corridor led to many interconnected initiatives being bundled into a staged
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
plan. In June 2011, the Waterloo Region council approved the Stage 1 plan for a single-line light rail transit (LRT) system between the existing bus terminals at Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo and
Fairview Park Mall CF Fairview Park (commonly known as Fairview Park Mall) is a large shopping mall of 120 stores in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview.
in south Kitchener, with adapted bus rapid transit (aBRT) connecting through to downtown Galt in Cambridge. Stage 2, which is still in planning, would replace the aBRT route with an extension of the light rail line. Construction of the light rail system began in August 2014 and Stage 1 service was expected to begin in 2017. Most of the rails had been installed by the end of 2016, and the maintenance facility and all underground utility work had been completed. The start date of service was postponed to early 2018, however, because of delays in the manufacture and delivery of the vehicles by Bombardier Transportation; by 24 February 2017, only a single light rail vehicle had arrived for testing. The start of service was then further delayed to December 2018. After an accelerated testing schedule, the service opened to the public on 21 June 2019. , Ion light rail serves Kitchener and Waterloo exclusively, while the Ion Bus service connects Kitchener to Cambridge. From downtown Kitchener, a single-seat Ion train ride is available as far north as
Conestoga station Conestoga station is located beside the King Street entrance on the westerly side of Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, Ontario. This facility operates as a major transit terminal for Grand River Transit (GRT) buses, with all of the routes that it ser ...
in north Waterloo, and as far south as
Fairway station Fairway is a light rail station and bus station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Region of Waterloo's Ion rapid transit system. The station is located just off Wilson Avenue between Fairway Road and Kingsway Drive, adjacent to ...
in south Kitchener; from the latter, a transfer is necessary to reach Cambridge using the Ion Bus, 206 Coronation iXpress, or local bus routes.


Intercity transit

Via Rail intercity passenger rail service is available at
Kitchener station Kitchener station is a railway station located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building containing a waiting room and t ...
. Via Rail trains pass through Kitchener eastbound on their way to Toronto's Union Station and westbound on their way to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and . Kitchener is also served by
GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...
buses and trains, the latter operating as the GO
Kitchener line Kitchener is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends westward from Union Station in Toronto to Kitchener, though most trains originate and terminate in Brampton in off-pe ...
. GO Transit bus service to Kitchener began on 31 October 2009, with a route stopping at Kitchener's Charles Street Terminal on the way from Waterloo to Mississauga. This was followed on 19 December 2011 by the extension of GO train service to Kitchener from its previous terminus at . GO bus service consists of the 25 Waterloo–Mississauga and 30 Kitchener routes. Both routes connect Kitchener with points east; the former to Mississauga's
Square One Bus Terminal Square One Bus Terminal is a GO Transit intercity bus terminal located in central Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is situated directly across Rathburn Road West from the Mississauga City Centre Transit Terminal (the main hub for local MiWay bus ...
via Sportsworld (in southeast Kitchener), Cambridge, Aberfoyle, and Milton, and the latter as a limited-stop express to with some stops in northern Mississauga. GO train service also travels east, terminating at Toronto's Union Station. A new bus service was launched on April 9, 2022 was started by FlixBus to link Kitchener and Toronto via a more direct route


Railways

Kitchener's primary railway corridor is the CN/ GO
Guelph Subdivision Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...
. It runs approximately east–west through the northern section of downtown Kitchener. It was originally laid out and constructed in 1856 by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), and after the GTR's acquisition of the Great Western Railway, the mainline through Kitchener became known informally as the "North Main Line" in contrast with the "South Main Line" through
Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...
, both connecting
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. Coming from the east, the
Waterloo Spur Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...
diverges from the mainline and heads north through Waterloo and ultimately to Elmira. The spur was formerly owned by CN, but is now owned by the
Region of Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...
.
Kitchener station Kitchener station is a railway station located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building containing a waiting room and t ...
lies a short distance west along the track from the junction with the Waterloo Spur. The current station building dates from 1897 and is a heritage structure which is owned by Via Rail, Canada's national passenger railway. Both Via Rail ''Corridor'' service and
GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...
Kitchener line Kitchener is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends westward from Union Station in Toronto to Kitchener, though most trains originate and terminate in Brampton in off-pe ...
service are available at the station, the latter of which has its western terminus at the station. Via Rail service consists of two trains per day in each direction along the Toronto–London–Sarnia route; one westbound train terminates at
Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron f ...
while another terminates at
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, while both eastbound trains terminate at Toronto Union Station. GO train service was originally extended to Kitchener in 2011 from its previous western terminus at Georgetown. GO service began with two trains per direction per weekday, but since its inception train frequency has gradually increased and as of early 2020 it stands at 8 eastbound and 7 westbound trains per weekday, with no weekend service. In 2017, Metrolinx (the parent agency of GO Transit) constructed a purpose-built train layover facility on Shirley Avenue to supplement its existing adapted layover facility, which was at capacity. While Kitchener benefits from increasingly frequent commuter-oriented GO service east to Toronto, intercity Via Rail service to the city has been largely unchanged for years, limiting its connectivity to Southwestern Ontario to the west. In contrast, the South Main Line through Brantford (which is still owned by CN) has faster and more frequent service between Toronto and London than the North Main Line does, along with larger double-tracked sections. In 2017, the Ontario Liberal government proposed a Windsor–Toronto high-speed rail line through Kitchener, which would improve travel times to nearby major cities as well as to the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The proposal, if approved, would provide a 48-minute trip from Kitchener to downtown Toronto. With the election of a new Conservative government, funding for the project was indefinitely paused. Freight trains in Kitchener are operated by the Canadian National Railway and the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
. These railways serve several customers, many of which are in industrial parks in southern Kitchener.


Air

The closest airport to Kitchener is the Region of Waterloo International Airport in nearby Breslau, about 12 km by road from downtown Kitchener. While it is a thriving general-aviation field, it is not heavily served by scheduled airlines. WestJet offers year-round service to
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
and weekly service to Orlando in the winter. Sunwing Airlines offers seasonal service to
Cayo Santa Maria Cayo or cayó may refer to: * ''Cayo'' (film), a 2005 Puerto Rican film starring Roselyn Sánchez * Cayo District, a district in the west of the nation of Belize ** San Ignacio, Belize, a town in the Cayo District (originally named "El Cayo") * C ...
. Most air travellers use Toronto's
Lester B. Pearson International Airport Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surr ...
or
John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport is an international airport in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The airport is part of the neighbourhood of Mount Hope, southwest of Downtown Hamilton and southwest of Toronto. The airport serves the ci ...
. There is a helipad in Kitchener near Google's Kitchener offices. In June, 2017 the helipad was temporarily closed due to possible interference from a construction crane on the flight path.


Media


Neighbourhoods

There are 10 wards, and 53 planning communities or neighbourhoods. There are also 29 neighbourhood associations recognized by the city, which in some cases do not correspond to the names and boundaries of planning communities designated by the city. In some cases the neighbourhood associations cover several neighbourhoods and/or planning communities and the name of one neighbourhood is sometimes used to refer to the entire area. The Stanley Park Neighbourhood Association, for example, covers much of the eastern and southeastern area of the city including the planning communities of Stanley Park, Heritage Park, Idlewood, and Grand River North and South. Further complicating things is that the first area of development named Stanley Park, which is where Stanley Park school is located and where Stanley Park Conservation Area is located, has been included within the city's planning district of Heritage Park, leaving only later-developed areas of Stanley Park plus an adjacent residential neighbourhood to the south, originally referred to as Sunnyside, in the Stanley Park planning neighbourhood. The Forest Heights Neighbourhood Association includes the Forest Hills neighbourhood/planning district to the east of Forest Heights proper.


Sports


Other sports teams and leagues

* K–W Kodiaks Lacrosse of the Major Series Lacrosse who play at the Waterloo Rec Centre. *
Tri-City Roller Derby Tri-City Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Kitchener, Ontario. On December 1, 2010, Tri-City became the third Canadian roller derby league to be granted membership in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, Having only ...
, members of the international Women's Flat Track Derby Association, play competitive roller derby at venues in Waterloo, Kitchener and New Hamburg. * District 8 Athletic Association, a secondary school sports association servicing the Catholic and Independent high schools of the Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. A member of
Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association {{notability, date=November 2011 Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association, or CWOSSA, is the governing body of all secondary school athletic competitions in Bruce, Grey, Wellington, Dufferin, Waterloo, Brant and Norfolk counties of O ...
and
Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) is an organization of student-athletes, teacher-coaches, student-coaches, teachers, principals, and sport administrators in Ontario, Canada. OFSAA is the second largest high school at ...
. * Waterloo Region Minor Football Association, formerly the Twin Cities Minor Tackle Football Association. Commonly known as the "Predators" or "Preds" the WRMFA provides an opportunity for athletes under the age of 19 to play football and to compete at the highest level. The Varsity team holds membership in the Ontario Provincial Football league as of 2020, formerly being of the Ontario Football Conference. Players do not come exclusively from the Twin Cities, but from all across the region, including St. Jacobs, Elmira, Wellesley, Baden, Breslau, Palmerston, New Hamburg, Breslau, St. Clements, Drayton and Maryhill.


Notable people


Academia

* Richard Bader, computational chemist * James G. Mitchell, computer scientist *
Karl Schweizer Karl Wolfgang Schweizer is a historian specialising in eighteenth century European history. Education and academic career Schweizer was born in Germany and was educated at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he gra ...
, historian, author *
Walter Zinn Walter Henry Zinn (December 10, 1906 – February 14, 2000) was an American nuclear physicist who was the first director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1946 to 1956. He worked at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory during W ...
, nuclear physicist


Athletics and sports

* Chelsea Aubry, basketball player *
Don Awrey Donald William Awrey (born July 18, 1943) is a Canadian former professional hockey defenceman. He played 979 career National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Ran ...
, ice hockey player * Bobby Bauer, ice hockey player * Don Beaupre, ice hockey player *
Vivian Berkeley Vivian Berkeley (born August 9, 1941) is a Canadian two-time World Blind Bowls, Lawn Bowling Champion, 1996 Summer Paralympics, 1996 Paralympic Games Silver Medalist and 2002 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist. Over her 21-year decorated ...
, World Champion blind lawn bowler and 1996 Paralympic silver medalist * Brian Bradley, ice hockey player * Christopher Chalmers, freestyle swimmer * Gary Cowan, golfer * Steve Dietrich, general manager of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team * Gary Dornhoefer, ice hockey player *
Woody Dumart Woodrow Wilson Clarence Dumart (December 23, 1916 – October 19, 2001) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, most notably for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. D ...
, ice hockey player, Hall of Fame * David Edgar, soccer player *
Dana Ellis Dana Ellis (born December 7, 1979) is a Canadian former pole vaulter. At the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Α ...
, pole vaulter *
Wayne Erdman Wayne Erdman (born February 3, 1952, in Kitchener, Ontario) is a Canadian retired judoka who represented Canada in Judo at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He won the gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games in the men's li ...
, judoka * John "Jack" Gibson, Hockey Hall of Fame, soccer player * George Hainsworth, ice hockey player * Mike Hoffman, ice hockey player * Chris Johnson, boxer * Kevin Klein, ice hockey player *
Bobby Kuntz Robert John "Bobby" Kuntz Sr. (January 10, 1932 – February 7, 2011) was a professional Canadian football linebacker who played eleven seasons in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was a part o ...
, football player *
Beau Landry Beau Landry (born September 24, 1991) is a Canadian football linebacker. He was drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with the eighth overall pick in the 2014 CFL Draft. He played CIS football at the University of Western Ontario. College career Lan ...
, gridiron football player * Lennox Lewis, professional boxer, three-time heavyweight champion * Scott Manning, football player and stunt pilot * Howie Meeker, ice hockey player and ''
Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'' broadcaster * Jamal Murray, basketball player *
Moe Norman Murray Irwin "Moe" Norman (July 10, 1929 – September 4, 2004) was a Canadian professional golfer whose accuracy and ability to hit shot after shot perfectly straight gave him the nickname "Pipeline Moe". During his career Norman won 55 tournamen ...
, golfer *
Sarah Pavan Sarah Lindsey Pavan (born August 16, 1986) is a Canadian beach volleyball and former indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Meli ...
, beach volleyball player *
Tanner Pearson Tanner Pearson (born August 10, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Pearson was drafted 30th overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Playing car ...
, ice hockey player * Andrew Poje, Olympic ice dancer * Mike Poulin, professional lacrosse player *
Pan Qingfu Pan Qingfu (), also known as Grandmaster Pan, was a Chinese martial artist. Grandmaster Pan's awards include a Hall of Fame award from the United International Kung Fu Federation, a Hall of Fame Award from the World Christian Martial Arts Federa ...
, Kung-Fu master *
Paul Reinhart Paul Gerard Reinhart (born January 6, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks in the National Hockey League (NHL). He featured in the 1986 Stanley Cup ...
, ice hockey player * Jason Reso (aka Christian Cage),
professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
* Steven Rice, ice hockey player *
Jim Sandlak James Sandlak, Jr. (born December 12, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 11 seasons in the National Hockey League and was known as "the House" due to his large stature. Playing career Sandlak played major junior w ...
, ice hockey player *
Mark Scheifele Mark Scheifele (born March 15, 1993) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and an alternate captain for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Jets in the first round, seventh overall, of the 2011 ...
, ice hockey player, 7th overall pick to the Winnipeg Jets in 2011 NHL draft *
Brad Schlegel Bradley Wilfred Schlegel (born July 22, 1968) is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman. Schlegel was born in Kitchener, Ontario. Drafted in 1988 by the Washington Capitals, he also played briefly for the Calgary Flames. Schlegel ...
, ice hockey player * Milt Schmidt, ice hockey player, coach, and general manager, Hockey Hall of Fame *
Frank J. Selke Francis Joseph Aloysius Selke (; May 7, 1893 – July 3, 1985) was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive in the National Hockey League. He was a nine-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens and a Hockey ...
, ice hockey general manager, Hockey Hall of Fame * Steve Seftel, ice hockey player, author * Logan Stanley, ice hockey player *
Scott Stevens Ronald Scott Stevens (born April 1, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. As a defenseman, Stevens played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and New Jers ...
, Hall of Fame ice hockey player * Kelly Vanderbeek, alpine skier, CBC personality *
Fitz Vanderpool Fitzroy "Fitz the Whip" Vanderpool is one of Canada's most decorated professional champions holding 6 title belts. Born November 3, 1967, in Trinidad and Tobago, he's a Canadian professional boxer who held the Canada Boxing Authority (NBA) Middl ...
, former World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association champion *
Tyler Varga John Tyler Varga (born September 24, 1993) is a dual Finnish-Canadian former professional American football fullback (gridiron football), fullback. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2015. Varga played c ...
, former fullback for the Indianapolis Colts * Mike West, backstroke swimmer *
Dennis Wideman Dennis Earl Wideman (born March 20, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Wideman was drafted in the eighth round, 241st overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2002 NHL Entry ...
, ice hockey player * Aaron Wilson, lacrosse player


Business

* Carl Pollock, industrialist, Electrohome Ltd *
Bramwell Tillsley Bramwell Harold Tillsley (August 18, 1931 - November 2, 2019) was a Canadian salvationist and writer, who was the 14th General of The Salvation Army (1993–1994). General Tillsley died on Saturday, November 2, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario, Canad ...
, former General of The Salvation Army * Walter P. Zeller, founder of Zellers; born near the city


Literature

*
John Robert Colombo John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian author, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works. Early life Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended ...
, writer * Ross Macdonald, pseudonym of
Kenneth Millar Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...
* Margaret Millar, author * David Morrell, author, creator of the '' Rambo'' franchise * Dave Sim, creator of the comic book '' Cerebus the Aardvark'' *
Edna Staebler Edna Staebler (January 15, 1906 – September 12, 2006) was a Canadian writer and award-winning literary journalist,Faculty of Arts, August 28, 2012, , ''Wilfrid Laurier University'', Headlines, Retrieved 11/26/2012 best known for her series of c ...
, author


Music, entertainment, and the arts

*
Raffi Armenian Raffi Armenian, (born June 4, 1942) is a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher. He directed the Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony orchestra for many years. Since 1999 he has been the director of Orchestral Studies at the University of T ...
, conductor * Kimberly Barber, mezzo-soprano *
Elise Bauman Elise Bauman (born October 23, 1990) is a Canadian actress, director, filmmaker and singer. She portrayed the role of Laura Hollis, the lead character of the web series ''Carmilla'' (2014–2016). Career Bauman began working professionally in t ...
, actress * Norman Blake, musician, member of Teenage Fanclub * Kristin Booth, actress * A. J. Bridel, musical theater actress * Mel Brown, blues musician *
Alex Bulmer Alex Bulmer is a Canadian playwright and theatre artist. Bulmer is the co-founder of the theatre companies SNIFF Inc. and Invisible Flash. She wrote the play ''Smudge'' and was a writer for the 2009 Channel 4 series ''Cast Offs''. Early life and ...
, theatre artist *
Bob Egan Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, ...
, musician, member of Blue Rodeo *
Liza Fromer Liza Fromer (born March 18, 1970) is a former cohost of '' The Morning Show'' on the Global Television Network and ''Breakfast Television'' at Citytv in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She graduated from Ryerson University with a degree in Radio an ...
, co-host of '' The Morning Show'', Global Television Network *
Nick Hector Nick Hector is a British Canadian film producer and editor, and professor of film production at the University of Windsor. Career Hector collaborated with Canadian filmmaker Allan King and exclusively cut his films during the last decade of Ki ...
, film editor * Derek Hines, jazz vocalist * James Hobson, engineer and
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
video creator * Allen Kaeja, film director and choreographer * Kathryn Ladano, bass clarinetist and composer * Lisa LaFlamme, television news anchor, CTV Television Network * Glenn Lewis,
neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and con ...
singer-songwriter *
Paul MacLeod Skydiggers are a Canadian roots rock band from Toronto formed by Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson. Since 1990, they have released 19 albums/EPs and have had a number of singles that have appeared on the Canadian charts. Their most successful album i ...
, singer-songwriter * Master T, television and radio personality, MuchMusic * Lois Maxwell, actress * Danny Michel, musician * Diane Nyland, actress, director, and choreographer * Edwin Outwater, conductor, Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony *
Jeremy Ratchford Jeremy Ratchford (born August 6, 1965) is a Canadian actor. He starred as Nick Vera on the TV series ''Cold Case''. Career While in Canada, Ratchford played Marvel Comic book character Banshee in the live action TV super hero film '' Generat ...
, actor *
Steve Strongman Steve Strongman is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has released several full length blues albums, ''Honey'', ''Blues in Colour'', ''Live at the Barn'' ''A Natural Fact'', ''Let Me Prove it to You'' and ''No Time Like Now ...
, blues guitarist * Rob Szabo, music producer and performer *
Tasha the Amazon Tasha the Amazon, born Tasha Schumann, is a Canadian rapper, singer-songwriter, hip hop producerHomer Watson Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855 – May 30, 1936) was a Canadian landscape painter. He has been characterized as the painter who first painted Canada as Canada, rather than as a pastiche of European painting. He was a member and pres ...
, landscape artist * Dawud Wharnsby, singer-songwriter, poet, and performer * JJ Wilde, rock singer


Politics

*
Louis Orville Breithaupt Louis Orville Breithaupt (October 28, 1890 – December 12, 1960) served as the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canada, from 1952 to 1957. Life and career Born in Berlin (later Kitchener), Ontario, the son of Emma Alvarine (Devitt) and ...
, 18th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario (1952–1957) *
David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022, and has been serving as the leader of the British Columbia New De ...
, Premier of British Columbia * William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's tenth, and longest-serving, prime minister *
Michael Kraus Michael Kraus may refer to: * Michael Kraus (soccer) (born 1984), American soccer player * Michael Kraus (field hockey) (born 1958), American Olympic hockey player * Michael Kraus (handballer) (born 1983), German handball player * Michael Kraus ( ...
, minister and entrepreneur * Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP member of the Canadian House of Commons


See also

*
List of cities in Ontario A city is a subtype of municipalities in the Canadian province of Ontario. A city can have the municipal status of either a single-tier or lower-tier municipality. Prior to 2003, Ontario had minimum population thresholds of 15,000 and 25,000 for ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* English, John, and Kenneth McLaughlin. ''Kitchener: an illustrated history'' (Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1983). * Hayes, Geoffrey. “From Berlin to the Trek of the Conestoga: A Revisionist Approach to Waterloo County's German Identity.” ''Ontario History'' 91#2 (Autumn 1999). * Hayes, Geoffrey. ''Waterloo County: An Illustrated History'' (Waterloo Historical Society, 1997). * Lorenzkowski, Barbara. ''Sounds of Ethnicity: Listening to German North America, 1850-1914'' (Univ. of Manitoba Press, 2010), includes Berlin. * Lorenzkowski, Barbara. "Languages of Ethnicity: Teaching German in Waterloo County's Schools, 1850–1915." ''Histoire sociale/Social history'' 41.81 (2008): 1-39
online
* McKegney, Patricia P. ''The Kaiser's Bust: A study of War-time Propaganda in Berlin, Ontario 1914-1918'' (Wellesley: Bamberg Press, 1991). * Schulze, Mathias, and Lori Heffner. "Speakers of German in Kitchener-Waterloo: Assimilation and Shift." ''Cultural Link: Kanada–Deutschland. Festschrift zum dreißigjährigen Bestehen eines akademischen Austauschs'' (2003): 141-158
online
* Tiessen, Paul. ''Berlin, Canada. A Self-Portrait of Kitchener, Ontario Before World War One'' (St. Jacobs: Sand Hills Books, 1979). * Rowell, Marg et al. ''Welcome to Waterloo. An Illustrated History of Waterloo, Ontario in celebration of its 125th Anniversary 1857-1982'' (Waterloo Printing Co. 1982)


External links

* *
Official website
{{Authority control Cities in Ontario German Canadian Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario Populated places established in the 1800s