View source for Waterloo County

{{short description|Former county in Ontario, Canada}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name          = Waterloo County
|nickname               = 
|settlement_type        = Former county
|motto                  = 
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|image_flag             = 
|image_seal             =
|image_map              = Map of Waterloo County, Ontario, 1883.png
|mapsize                = 
|map_caption            = County map of 1883.
|subdivision_type       = 
|subdivision_type2      = 
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|subdivision_name       = 
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|seat                   = [[Berlin, Ontario|Berlin]] ([[Berlin to Kitchener name change|known as Kitchener from 1916]])
|leader_title           = 
|leader_name            = 
|established_title      = Established
|established_date       = 1853
|extinct_title          = Dissolved
|extinct_date           = 1973
|founder                =
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|timezone               = Eastern (EST)
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|coordinates            = {{coord|43|28|N|80|30|W|display=title,inline|region:CA-ON}}
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}} 
'''Waterloo County''' was a [[List of counties in Ontario|county]] in [[Province_of_Canada#Canada_West|Canada West]] in the [[United Province of Canada]] from 1853 until 1867, then in the Canadian province of [[Ontario]] from 1867 until 1973. It was the direct predecessor of the [[Regional Municipality of Waterloo]].

Situated on a subset of land within the [[Haldimand Tract]], Waterloo County consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries. The major population centres were Waterloo, Kitchener ([[Berlin to Kitchener name change|known as Berlin prior to 1916]]), Preston, Hespeler, Blair, and [[Doon, Ontario|Doon]] in Waterloo township; Galt in North Dumfries; Elmira in Woolwich; and New Hamburg in Wilmot. All are now part of the Regional Municipality.

==History==
===Background===

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

===Haldimand Proclamation (1784–1800)===

In 1784, by way of the [[Haldimand Proclamation]], the British Government granted the [[Grand River (Ontario)|Grand River]] valley to [[Six Nations of the Grand River|Six Nations]] (AKA [[Iroquois]] Confederacy) refugees from central and western New York State, indigenous peoples who served as allies during the [[American Revolution]].<ref name="BeanBeginning" /> The area was from [[Lake Erie]] to the [[Elora, Ontario|Elora]] falls, and the width being six miles on each side of the river. The First Nations soon offered almost half of the upper area for sale. It was divided into four blocks. Blocks 1, 2 and 3 were sold by 1816; this large area became the townships of Waterloo, Woolwich and Dumfries.<ref name=Discover>{{cite web |url=http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/discoveringTheRegion/history.asp?_mid_=34333 |title=Discover |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Region of Waterloo |access-date=23 March 2017 |archive-date=14 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314193959/http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/discoveringTheRegion/history.asp?_mid_=34333 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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

===Early arrivals from Pennsylvania (1800–1819)<span class="anchor" id="Early arrivals from Pennsylvania (1800–1819)"></span>===

Settlement of the what later became the Township of Waterloo started in 1800 (in an area that is now a part of Kitchener) by Joseph Schoerg (later called Sherk) and Samuel Betzner, Jr.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/exhibits/past-and-present-inductees.aspx|title=Joseph (Schoerg) Sherk and Samuel D. Betzner|access-date=29 March 2021|archive-date=17 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117082303/https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/exhibits/past-and-present-inductees.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> (brothers-in-law), [[Mennonites]], from [[Franklin County, Pennsylvania]]. At the time, the upper part of the Grand River Valley was considered deep in the wilderness, and was difficult to penetrate into with wagons due a lack of roads. One Waterloo County historian, W. H. Breithaupt, believed that Schoerg and Betzner, after arriving in Upper Canada, travelled from [[Ancaster, Ontario|Ancaster]] westward through [[Beverley Township, Ontario|Beverley Township]] to a point on the Grand River near where [[Paris, Ontario|Paris]] would later be founded, using a road cut through the wilderness the previous year by two Englishmen named Ward and Smith. They then followed the Grand River northward.{{sfn|Breithaupt|1919|p=63}} Joseph Schoerg and his wife settled on Lot 11, B.F. Beasley Block, 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 what would become the village of Blair.<ref name="DSD_PLAN-Schoerg-Barn" /> 
[[File:Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower, crop 2.jpg|thumb|The Pioneer Memorial Tower, dedicated the Pennsylvania-German pioneers who arrived between 1800 and 1803]]
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)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/03/28/kitchener-council-allows-heritage-homeowner-to-build-a-detached-garage.html|title=Kitchener council allows heritage homeowner to build a detached garage|date=28 March 2021|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref> and the David Schoerg farmstead (not yet restored)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2021/03/30/empty-for-years-home-to-one-of-waterloo-regions-earliest-mennonite-settlers-gets-makeover.html|title=Empty for years, home to one of Waterloo Region's earliest Mennonite settlers gets makeover|date=30 March 2021|access-date=30 March 2021}}</ref> were erected circa 1830.<ref>{{CRHP|9069|Betzner Farmstead|29 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{CRHP|9898|Schoerg Homestead|29 March 2021}}</ref>

[[Image:Conestoga Wagon 1883.jpg|right|thumb|Many of the Mennonite Germans from Pennsylvania arrived in Conestoga wagons]]

The German Company, represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker, had gotten into financial difficulties after buying the land in 1796 from [[Joseph Brant]] who represented the [[Six Nations of the Grand River|Six Nations]]. The payment to Beasly, in cash, arrived from Pennsylvania in kegs, carried in a wagon surrounded by armed guards.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |title=Waterloo Township |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2013 |website=Waterloo Region Museum Research |publisher=Region of Waterloo |access-date=13 March 2017 |quote=To correct the situation, a formal agreement was arranged between Brant and Beasley. This arrangement allowed Beasley to sell the bulk of Block Two in order to cover his mortgage obligations completely, while giving the Mennonite buyers legal title to land they had previously purchased. Subsequently, Beasley sold a 60,000 acre tract of land to the German Company of Pennsylvania represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker in November 1803. Beasley's sale to the German Company not only cleared him of a mortgage debt, but left him with 10,000 acres of Block Two land which he continued to sell into the 1830s. |archive-date=27 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227143026/http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Other settlers followed mostly from Pennsylvania typically by [[Conestoga wagon]]s. 
Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a {{convert|60,000|acre|km2|adj=on}} section of Block Two from the German Company<ref>{{cite web|url=https://images.ourontario.ca/waterloo/details.asp?ID=2407399|title=Map of Block Number 2, German Company Tract, Waterloo Township, Ontario, 1805|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref> from Richard Beasley who had acquired a massive territory.<ref name="DSD_PLAN-Schoerg-Barn">{{cite web |title=Schoerg farmstead: first permanent European settlement Two families from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, bought land along the Grand River from m Beasley, establishing the first permanent European settlement in inland Upper Canada |url=https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN-Schoerg-Barn.pdf |access-date=29 March 2021}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} Some of this information is verified by: {{Cite report |title=Cultural Heritage Landscapes |date=December 2014 |publisher=City of Kitchener |at=p. [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN_CHL_Study_Report.pdf#page=9 9], "5. LOCAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FORMATION OF KITCHENER’S CULTURAL HERITAGE LANDSCAPES : 5.1 Natural Influences : 1. Rivers, Water Bodies, and Drainage Patterns"; and Appendix 6 "Inventory of Individual Data Sheets for Each of the Cultural Heritage Landscapes", [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN_CHL_Study_Appendix_6_CHL_Data_Sheets.pdf#page=8 L-AGR-3 "Steckle Homestead"] and [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN_CHL_Study_Appendix_6_CHL_Data_Sheets.pdf#page=60 L-OPS-1 "Pioneer Tower West"]}}</ref> The tract had originally been purchased from the [[Iroquois Confederacy|Six Nations Indians]] by the British Crown in 1784; it was acquired in 1798 by Richard Beasley and two partners who decided to resell land, in smaller parcels.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://images.ourontario.ca/waterloo/details.asp?ID=2407399|title=Map of Block Number 2, German Company Tract, Waterloo Township, Ontario, 1805|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref> The Tract included most of Block 2 of the previous [[Haldimand Tract|Grand River Indian Lands]].<ref name="BeanBeginning">{{cite web |title=The Walter Bean Grand River Trail - Waterloo County: The Beginning |url=http://www.walterbeantrail.ca/wloobeginning.htm |access-date=30 September 2018 |website=www.walterbeantrail.ca}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} Most of this information is verified by: ''City of Kitchener’s Parks Master Plan'', [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/INS_Parks_Places_and_Spaces_Places-Remediated-Compressed.pdf#page=136 "Natural Spaces & Climate Adaptation", p. 14], and [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/INS_Parks_Places_and_Spaces_Places-Remediated-Compressed.pdf#page=222 "Signature & Feature Parks", p. 24]; {{Cite report |title=Lower Doon Land Use Study Heritage Component |author=BRAY Heritage |date=January 2021 |publisher=Prepared for: City of Kitchener |page=[https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN_Lower_Doon_Land_Use_Study_Heritage_Component.pdf#page=23 19] (in Appendix A "Chronology of Lower Doon's Development") |mode=cs2 |type=Heritage Report}}; in {{Cite report |title=Upper Hidden Valley Sanitary Pump Station and Forcemain |author=MTE Consultants Inc. |date=May 25, 2022 |publisher=Prepared for: City of Kitchener |id=MTE File No.: 48301-100 |mode=cs2 |chapter=Appendix D: Environmental Studies |type=Schedule B Class Environmental Assessment (EA)}}: {{Cite report |title=Class Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design for Upper Hidden Valley Sanitary Pumping Station and Forcemain |author=Archaeological Research Associates Ltd. |date=10 May 2021 – 9 May 2022 <!-- the cover says "Original: 10/05/2021; Revised: 09/05/2022", and the bottom of each page says "May 2021" --> |page=[https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_ENG_Hidden_Valley_ESR_Report.pdf#page=152 13] |id=HR-210-2020, ARA File # 2020-0287 |type=Cultural Heritage Assessment Report |mode=cs2}}; {{Cite report |title=Class Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design for Upper Hidden Valley Sanitary Pumping Station and Forcemain |author=Archaeological Research Associates Ltd. / Licensed under M. Maika |date=13 October 2021 |page= |pages=[https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_ENG_Hidden_Valley_ESR_Report.pdf#page=317 1], [https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_ENG_Hidden_Valley_ESR_Report.pdf#page=320 4] |id=PIF #P1021-0004-2021, ARA File #2020-0220 |type=Stage 1 Archaeological Assessment |mode=cs2}}}; {{Cite report |title=Lower Doon and Homer Watson Park Candidate Cultural Heritage Landscape Evaluation |author=Stantec Consulting Ltd |date=September 30, 2019 |publisher=Prepared for City of Kitchener |at=[https://www.kitchener.ca/en/resourcesGeneral/Documents/DSD_PLAN_Full_Report_Lower_Doon_CHL.pdf#page=26 3.1 "Indigenous History"] |id=File: 160940588 |mode=cs2 |type=Final Report}}; {{Cite book |last=Bricker |first=I. C. <!-- "Phm. B., Elora" --> |title=Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society |date=1934 |publication-date=May 1935 |pages=81–122 (see p. [https://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1934_V22.pdf#page=15 82]) |mode=cs2}}</ref> Many of the first farms were least four hundred acres in size.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1930.pdf |title=History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1930 |website=Waterloo Historical Society 1930 Annual Meeting |publisher=Waterloo Historical Society |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="foundlocally.com">{{cite web|url=http://kitchener.foundlocally.com/Local/Info-CityHistoryToConfederation.htm|title=Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario History - To Confederation}}</ref> 

At this time, many [[Mississaugas|Mississauga people]] still frequented the area. Recorded history documents that the relationship between the Mississaugas and early settlers could sometimes be strained. In one case, a John Erb (likely the same John Erb who built the first mills at [[Preston, Ontario|Preston]]){{sfn|Bauman|1940}} was shot and wounded by a Mississauga man in [[Haldimand County]] in 1804.{{sfn|Cruikshank|1927|pp=338-339}} Ezra E. Eby, whose history of Waterloo Township was based on oral family histories of early settlers as well as written history, highlights positive social relationships between early settlers and indigenous people, describing frequent trade between them, that settlers' children and indigenous children would play together, and that indigenous people would sometimes stay overnight in settlers' houses.{{sfn|Eby|1895|pp=47-48}} However, in one surviving document from the period, a group of settlers in "Beasley's Township" (the name used before Waterloo Township was adopted) petitioned the Upper Canada legislature in 1808 to ban the sale of [[liquor|spirits]] to indigenous people, citing social disorder and "bad behaviour" including the shooting of another settler.<ref>{{cite report |title=Eighth Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario |editor-last=Fraser |editor-first=Alexander |publisher=King's Printer |date=1912}}</ref> Another, later historian, Angus S. Bauman, points out in his own history that Ezra Eby may have been aware of these incidents,{{sfn|Bauman|1940|p=184}} highlighting Eby's comment that "[i]n those early times the Indians were very numerous and if kindly treated would never injure anyone,"{{sfn|Eby|1895|p=47}} noting that "perhaps these men did inadvertently displease the Indians."{{sfn|Bauman|1940|p=184}}

The majority of the settlers of the Lower Block along the Grand River (including areas such as the current Freeport and Hespeler) were also Mennonites from Pennsylvania often called [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] although they were actually Deutsch or Deitsch, German. Others immigrated from the British Isles and directly from Germany, producing a mix of cultures.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |title=Waterloo Township |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2013 |website=Waterloo Region Museum Research |publisher=Region of Waterloo |access-date=13 March 2017 |archive-date=27 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227143026/http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/waterloo-township/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Mennonite and carriage publ.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Old Order Mennonite horse and carriage, still common in the northern part of Waterloo Region]]

The first school opened in 1802 near the village of Blair, then known as Shinglebridge and now part of [[Cambridge, Ontario]]. The first teacher's name was Mr. Rittenhaus.{{sfn|Eby|1895|p=25}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visitcambridgeontario.com/About-Cambridge-Blair.htm|title=The History of Blair, originally known as "Shinglebridge|access-date=29 March 2021|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423092522/http://www.visitcambridgeontario.com/About-Cambridge-Blair.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
[[File:Corduroy Road, King St. Waterloo (26511183772).jpg|thumb|The corduroy road discovered under King St., Waterloo]]
By the early 1800s, a [[corduroy road]] had been built along what is now [[King Street, Kitchener, Ontario|King Street]] in Waterloo; its remains were unearthed in 2016. The road was probably built by Mennonites using technology acquired in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, between the late 1790s and 1816. The log road was buried in about 1840 and a new road built on top of it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8926047-university-of-waterloo-researchers-hoping-to-borrow-corduroy-road-samples/ |title=University of Waterloo researchers hoping to borrow corduroy road samples |first=James|last=Jackson |newspaper=Waterloo Region Record |date=September 26, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8599125-corduroy-road-gives-a-glimpse-into-waterloo-s-past/ |title=Corduroy road gives a glimpse into Waterloo's past |first=James|last=Jackson |newspaper=Waterloo Region Record |date=May 10, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> A historian explained that the road had been built for access to the mill but was also "one of the first roads cut through (the woods) so people could start settling the area".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/it-looked-like-a-giant-rib-cage-in-the-ground-the-centuries-old-origins-of-silicon-valley-north-laid-bare-by-lrt-build |title='It looked like a giant rib cage in the ground': The centuries-old origins of Silicon Valley north laid bare by LRT build |work=Canada's Historic Places|date=20 May 2016 |access-date=29 March 2021 |quote=|last1=Csanady |first1=Ashley }}</ref>

Later declared the founder of the city of Waterloo, Abraham Erb, a German Mennonite from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, bought 900 acres of bush land in 1806 from the German Company; (this would later be part of Waterloo Township). He built a sawmill in 1808 and a gristmill in 1816; the latter operated continuously for 111 years.<ref name="Cook">{{cite web|last1=Cook|first1=Wayne|title=Historical Plaques of Waterloo County|url=http://www.waynecook.com/awaterloo.html|access-date=25 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325003333/http://www.waynecook.com/awaterloo.html|archive-date=25 March 2017|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Other early settlers of what would become Waterloo included Samuel and Elia Schneider who arrived in 1816. Until about 1820, settlements such as this were quite small.<ref name="auto"/>

By 1804, the cemetery in the village of [[Blair, Ontario|Blair]] (now part of Cambridge) was already in use. The next cemetery to be started is the one next to Pioneer Tower in [[Doon, Ontario|Doon]]; the first recorded burial at that location was in 1806. The cemetery at First Mennonite church at 800 King St. East in Kitchener 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.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/6257126-mennonite-cemetery-offers-glimpse-into-kitchener-s-earliest-days/ |title = Mennonite cemetery offers glimpse into Kitchener's earliest days|date = 2016-01-31}}</ref>

In 1807, {{convert|45,195|acre|km2}} of Block 3 (Woolwich) was purchased by Pennsylvanians John Erb, Jacob Erb and others.

Later named the founder of Kitchener, Benjamin Eby (made Mennonite preacher 1809, and bishop in 1812) arrived from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1806 and purchased a very large tract of land consisting of much of what would become the village of Berlin (named about 1830). The settlement was initially called Ebytown and was at the south-east side of what would later become Queen Street. (Eby was also responsible for the growth of the Mennonite church in Waterloo County; he built the first church in 1813.) Abram Weber settled on the corner of what would become King and Wilmot Streets and David Weber in the area of the much later Grand Trunk Railway station.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Cook" /> Benjamin Eby encouraged manufacturers to move to the village. Jacob Hoffman came in 1829 or 1830 and started the first furniture factory. 
[[Image:Joseph Schneider Haus NHS.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Joseph Schneider Haus was built by one of the early settlers in Berlin, Ontario and still stands.]]
Almost as important as Benjamin Eby in the history of Kitchener, Joseph Schneider of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (son of immigrants from southern Germany) bought lot 17 of the German Company Tract of block 2 in 1806. While farming, he helped to build what became "Schneider's Road" and by 1816 built a sawmill. Years later, Schneider and Phineas Varnum would help form the commercial centre of Ebytown.{{sfn|Good|Tiessen|1988}}

The [[War of 1812]] interrupted settlement. The Mennonite settlers refused to carry arms so were employed in non-combatant roles in camps and hospital and as teamsters in transport service during the war.<ref name="Seiling">{{cite news|last1=Seiling|first1=Jonathan|title=Unwilling participants in the War of 1812|url=http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/2606511-unwilling-participants-in-the-war-of-1812/|access-date=28 March 2017|work=The Record|date=23 June 2012}}</ref>

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

===Rural development (1819–1852)===

During and shortly after the [[War of 1812]], government expenditures on roads increased dramatically,{{sfn|Ontario Commission on Municipal Institutions|1888|p=25}} leading to the improvement and extension of a number of roads in Upper Canada. By 1819, a new road had been constructed, which ran diagonally across Beverley Township from [[Dundas, Ontario|Dundas]] to Galt. The new road gave pioneers in Dumfries Township (and by extension, Waterloo Township) a direct route to urban centres near Lake Ontario, although it was over a difficult track which passed through many swamps. This "Beverley Road" was the predecessor to the later {{jcon|hwy|8|nosh=y}}.{{sfn|Breithaupt|1919|p=63}} Before commercial mills were constructed in the Waterloo area, settlers had to bring their grain in wagons along the road to Dundas to be milled.{{sfn|Breithaupt|1919|p=63}} By the 1830s, the government had adopted a new strategy: the creation of [[toll road]]s maintained by private companies. The first such company, incorporated in 1829, was the Dundas and Waterloo Turnpike Company. It had a capitalization of [[Canadian pound|CA£]]25,000, almost double the government's expenditure on roads the following year,{{sfn|Ontario Commission on Municipal Institutions|1888|p=25}} and was committed to improve and maintain the Galt–Dundas road to a width of {{convert|30|ft|m}}.{{sfn|Burghardt|1990|p=234}} Despite these funds, the company struggled financially, and a [[debenture]] of another £25,000 was requested and authorized in 1837.{{sfn|Burghardt|1990|p=234}} A further £8,000 was authorized two years later, in 1839, for [[macadamization]].{{sfn|Burghardt|1990|p=234}}

The earliest recorded proposal for a railway in Waterloo County was in January 1836;{{sfn|Bloomfield|1995|p=173}} at the time, no public railways existed in Canada, as the first, the [[Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad]], was still under construction and would only open later that year. This first proposal was for a long-distance route from Dundas to Goderich, going through Preston.{{sfn|Bloomfield|1995|p=173}} A similar proposal for a "Toronto and Lake Huron Railway" was made in August, which was intended to pass through the townships of Dumfries and Waterloo. However, [[Panic of 1837|an economic crisis in 1837]] delayed railway development, and it wouldn't be until the railway fever of the 1840s that new proposals would emerge.{{sfn|Bloomfield|1995|p=173}}

John Eby, druggist and chemist, arrived from Pennsylvania in about 1820 and opened a shop to the west of what would later be Eby Street. At the time, it was common for settlers to form a building "bee" to help newcomers erect a long home.<ref name="auto"/> Immigration from Lancaster county continued heavily in the 1820s because of a severe agricultural depression in Lancaster County.<ref name="auto1"/> Joseph Schneider also settled in that area and built a frame house in 1820 on the south side of the future Queen Street after clearing a farm and creating a rough road. A small settlement formed around "Schneider's Road" which later became the nucleus of Berlin. The home was renovated over a century later and still stands.<ref name="Cook" />

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

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

The first newspaper of the county (first issue dated August 27, 1835) was the Canada Museum und Allgemeine Zeitung, printed mostly in German and partly in English. It was published for only five years.{{sfn|Breithaupt|1927|p=991}}

The land which now makes up the township of [[Woolwich, Ontario|Woolwich]], including communities such as [[St. Jacobs, Ontario|St. Jacobs]] and [[Elmira, Ontario|Elmira]], were first settled in the early 1800s.<ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com">{{Cite web|url = http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/woolwich-township/|title = Homepage|date = 2019-08-07|access-date = 2017-04-10|archive-date = 2017-02-27|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170227143015/http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/woolwich-township/|url-status = dead}}</ref> The early settlers were primarily from England or Ireland but after 1830, [[Mennonites]] from Pennsylvania formed a significant proportion of the population.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.kanada-ontario.de/en/st_jacobs/ |title = 1001 St. Jacobs Waterloo Region, Ontario Canada Information - proudly presented by Kanada News' Canada Vacation Planner the Online Travel Directory}}</ref>{{sfn|Connon|1975}}<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://gameo.org/index.php?title=West_Woolwich_Mennonite_Meetinghouse_(Elmira,_Ontario,_Canada) |title = West Woolwich Mennonite Meetinghouse (Elmira, Ontario, Canada) - GAMEO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Elmira_Mennonite_Meetinghouse_(Elmira,_Ontario,_Canada) |title = Elmira Mennonite Meetinghouse (Elmira, Ontario, Canada) - GAMEO}}</ref> The area still retains much of its traditional character. Old Order Mennonites can still be seen on the local roads using their traditional horse and buggy transportation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.visitor.on.ca/elmira/ |title=Elmira, Ontario |access-date=2017-04-10 |archive-date=2006-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061130195836/http://www.visitor.on.ca/elmira/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.canadianmennonite.org/stories/old-order-mennonite-groups-ontario-are-growing | title=Old Order Mennonite groups in Ontario are growing| date=December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.woolwich.ca/en/living-here/About-Woolwich.aspx| title=About Woolwich| date=2018-03-20| access-date=2017-04-10| archive-date=2021-12-09| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209161256/https://www.woolwich.ca/en/living-here/About-Woolwich.aspx| url-status=dead}}</ref>

By 1835, many immigrants to Waterloo County were not from Pennsylvania. Many settler came from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany to areas such as New Germany in the Lower Block of Block Two. In 1835, approximately 70% of the population was Mennonite but by 1851, only 26% of the much larger population were of this religion.<ref name="auto1"/> This was due to the large wave of new German migrants from Europe, particularly between 1830 and 1850.{{sfn|Lehmann|1986}}{{sfn|Bassler|2013}}

The [[Wellington District, Upper Canada|Wellington District]] and Waterloo County were formed in June 1840{{sfn|Armstrong|1985|p=195}} from territory transferred from certain other districts:

{| class = "wikitable"
|-
|+Townships transferred to the Wellington District (1840)<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  =An Act erecting certain parts of the Counties of Halton and Simcoe into a new District, by the name of the District of Wellington|abbr =S.U.C.|year =1837 (1st Session)|chapter =116|link= https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112103435170?urlappend=%3Bseq=476}}, implemented by Proclamation of June 18, 1840</ref>
|- 
!District
!County
!Townships
!Other lands
|-
|[[Gore District, Upper Canada|Gore]]
|[[Halton County, Ontario|Halton]]
|
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Dumfries
* Eramosa
* Erin
* Garafraxa
* Guelph
* Nichol
* Puslinch
* Waterloo
* Wilmot
* Woolwich
{{div col end}}
|
|-
|[[Home District|Home]]
|[[Simcoe County, Ontario|Simcoe]]
|
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Amaranth
* Luther
* Melancthon
* Proton
{{div col end}}
|
|-
|[[London District, Upper Canada|London]]
|&ndash;
|
|
* reserved lands west of Woolwich and Nichol<ref group=a>later surveyed to form the townships of Wellesley and Peel</ref>
* the triangular piece of land adjoining the said tract in the proposed District of Huron<ref group=a>later surveyed to form the townships of Maryborough and Wallace</ref>
* part of the late purchase from the Indians of Gore,<ref group=a>being the [[Mississaugas]]</ref> and part of Indian lands<ref group=a>acquired under the [[Saugeen Tract Agreement]]</ref><ref group=a>the sum of which was surveyed into townships on either side of the [[Ontario Highway 6#History|Garafraxa Road]] that was constructed in the period 1840-1848 to the new community of [[Owen Sound, Ontario|Sydenham]]</ref>
|}
{{reflist|group=a}}

The [[county seat|district town]] was [[Guelph]].<ref>1837 Act, s. 28</ref>

Records indicate a population of 13,782 in 1841. The ''Smith's Canadian Gazetteer'' of 1846 states that 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 population count was 4424. In 1846 the village of Waterloo had a population of 200, "mostly Germans". There was a grist mill and a sawmill and some tradesmen.{{sfn|Smith|1846|p=205–206}} Berlin (Kitchener) had a population of about 400, also "mostly German", and more tradesmen than the village of Waterloo.{{sfn|Smith|1846|p=15}}

===Reorganization of the county (1852–1853)===
At the beginning of 1852, the County was divided into three, forming the United Counties of Wellington, Waterloo and Grey:<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  =An Act to make certain alterations in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada|abbr =S.Prov.C.|year =1851|chapter =5|schedule =A and B|link =https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1851cana#page/1799/mode/1up}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Distribution of the townships of the first County of Waterloo (1851)
|-
!New County !!Territory
|- valign="top"
|Wellington
|
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Erin
* Puslinch
* Guelph
* Nichol
* Garafraxa
* Eramosa
* Peel
* Maryborough
* Minto
* Arthur
* Luther
* Amaranth
* Pilkington<ref group=a>formerly the Pilkington Tract in the Township of Woolwich (1851 Act, Sch. D)</ref>
{{div col end}}
|- valign="top"
|Waterloo
|
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* North Dumfries<ref group=a>the northern part of the Township of Dumfries, previously part of [[Halton County, Ontario|Halton County]] (1851 Act, Sch. D)</ref>
* Waterloo
* Wilmot
* Woolwich
* Wellesley
{{div col end}}
|- valign="top"
|Grey
|
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Artemisia
* Bentinck
* Collingwood
* Derby
* Egremont
* Euphrasia
* Glenelg
* Holland
* Melancthon
* Normanby
* Osprey
* Proton
* Saint Vincent
* Sullivan
* Sydenham
{{div col end}}
* together with part of the Indian Reserve on the [[Bruce Peninsula]]<ref group=a>later surveyed to form the Townships of Keppel and Sarawak</ref>
|}
{{reflist|group=a}}

The County of Waterloo was withdrawn from the United Counties in January 1853.<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date= 22 January 1853|title= Proclamation|url= http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/canada-gazette/093/001060-119.01-e.php?image_id_nbr=14422&document_id_nbr=2280&f=p&PHPSESSID=b4rkhqavd3eo3ten3s4m29v0a1|journal= [[Canada Gazette]]|volume= 12|issue= 3|page= 75}}</ref>

===Urbanization and centralization around Berlin (1853–1894)===

[[File:Martins Old Order Mennonite Church (5390735434).jpg|200px|thumb|right|Many of the Mennonite places of worship were basic frame buildings; this type is still commonly used by Old Order Mennonite groups in the northern part of the Region]]

There had been some contentious debate between Galt and Berlin (later, Kitchener) as to where the [[county seat]] would be located. At the time, Berlin was a hamlet with a population of only 700, as opposed to Galt's population of 2,200.<ref>{{Cite web |last=mills |first=rych |title=Building a new Waterloo County |url=https://www.therecord.com/living-story/7408068-building-a-new-waterloo-county/ |date=8 July 2017 |access-date=21 April 2021}}</ref> one of the requirements for founding was the construction of a [[courthouse]] and jail. When the local Berlin hotelier [[Friedrich Gaukel]] donated a small parcel of land he owned (at the current Queen and Weber streets), this secured the county seat for Berlin. The courthouse at the corner of the later Queen Street North and Weber Street and the [[Waterloo County Gaol|county gaol]] were built within a few months. The first county council meeting was held in the new building on 24 January 1853,<ref name="therecord.com" /> as the county officially began operations. The new county council included 12 members from the five townships and two villages; Doctor John Scott was appointed as the first warden (reeve). Though the courthouse has since been replaced with a modern structure, the gaol and adjacent governor's house remain to this day under historical designation; they have been repurposed for further legal capacities (courtrooms and prosecutors' offices).<ref name="therecord.com">{{Cite web |last=mills |first=rych |title=Flash from the Past: Seven meetings that decided Waterloo County |url=https://www.therecord.com/life/2017/07/14/flash-from-the-past-seven-meetings-that-decided-waterloo-county.html |date=14 July 2017 |access-date=21 April 2021}}</ref> In the following years, various County institutions and facilities would be created, including roads and bridges, schools, a House of Industry and Refuge, agricultural societies and local markets.<ref name="Cook" /><ref name="therecord.com"/>

[[File:Railroad Bridge over the Grand River. Grand Trunk Railway.jpg|thumb|[[Grand Trunk Railway]] bridge over the Grand River near Breslau, 1856]]

The [[Grand Trunk Railway]] reached Berlin in 1856 and that accelerated the growth of industry. In the next decade factories and the homes of labourers and wealthy owners replaced the early settlers' log houses.<ref name="foundlocally.com"/> A rail line did not reach St. Jacobs or Elmira until 1891.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.waterlooregionmuseum.com/collections-and-research/place-names-in-waterloo-region/woolwich-township/st-jacobs/ |title = Homepage|date = 2019-08-07}}</ref><ref name="waterlooregionmuseum.com"/> The Grand Trunk and the Canadian Pacific railways provided useful transportation and as a result, furniture manufacturing and other industries began to open in Elmira.

After about 1850, settlers direct from Germany began arriving to all parts of the county, including Woolwich Township. Waterloo was incorporated as a village in 1857 and became the Town of Waterloo in 1876 and the City of Waterloo in 1948.

The population was 38,750 by 1861. In 1864, there were two grammar schools in the county, at Galt and Berlin, three Roman Catholic Separate Schools in the township of Wellesley, and two others in the township of Wilmot.{{sfn|Sutherland|1864}}

By 1871, the largest ethnic groups in the county were Scots (18 per cent of the population), Irish (8 per cent), English (12.6 per cent), and German. At that time, those with German roots (direct from Europe or from Pennsylvania) made up nearly 55 per cent of the population. That was much higher than the 10 percent typical in the rest of Ontario.{{sfn|Bloomfield|Foster|Forgay|1993}}

The first hospital in Waterloo County opened in 1890 as Galt General Hospital. Additional buildings and facilities were added in the early 1900s. By 1918, the facility had an X-ray room, a 27-room nurses' residence and was also a nurse training school.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mills |first=Rych |title=Flash from the Past: Hospitals' history of growth a Cambridge-Galt constant|url=https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9042867-flash-from-the-past-hospitals-history-of-growth-a-cambridge-galt-constant/| work=Record |date=23 November 2018 |access-date=25 November 2018}}</ref>

By 1911, there were nearly three times as many Lutherans as Mennonites in that area, for example.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/category/pre-1914/ |title=Waterloo Region Pre-1914 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region WWI |publisher=University of Waterloo |access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stjameselmira.ca/?page_id=31|title = History – St. James Lutheran Church}}</ref>

====Nascent urban hierarchy====

[[File:1862 Johnson Map of Ontario and Quebec, Canada - Geographicus - QuebecOntario-johnson-1862 (cropped, centred on Waterloo County).jpg|thumb|1862 map showing rail-connected Berlin at the centre of the county.]]

In [[urban studies]], a metric called the "functional unit" is sometimes used as a measure for the complexity of a settlement. A functional unit is a measure of a type of economic activity, such as milling, banking, or retailing. A single establishment could contain multiple functional units; one example, common in pioneer settlements, is the general store/post office, which would constitute two functional units.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=38}} For Waterloo County, statistics on functional units are possible for 1864 onward using contemporary data sources. In 1864, Galt was clearly at the top of the county's urban hierarchy, with {{percent|23}} of all functional units, while Berlin had only {{percent|14}}. Waterloo, Preston, Ayr, and New Hamburg all followed with between {{percent|6}} and {{percent|10}} each; no other community in the county had more than {{percent|3.41|sigfig=3}} of the county's functional units.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=38}}

[[File:Kitchener Ontario (8185928775).jpg|thumb|Despite urban (and later suburban) development in its major centres, much of the county remained rural and agricultural in nature well into the 20th century.]]

By 1871, Galt still held the lead, but several small and mid-sized settlements in the county had dramatically increased in total number of functional units, overtaking others. In particular, New Hamburg, Elmira, and Ayr pulled ahead of Preston, while St. Jacobs and Hespeler more than doubled and tripled respectively.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=38}} From 1871 to 1881, the county entered an era described by the geographer Fred Dahms as one of "competition and centralization".{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=40}} Between 1871 and 1881, the rural population decreased while the urban share of total population increased by nearly {{percent|30}}, despite a total population growth of only {{percent|6.2|sigfig=2}}.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=41}} The total number of settlements with functional units increased between 1864 and 1881, reaching an all-time peak of 44, and communities were widely dispersed. The result of this was numerous hamlets with one or two functional units (often a hotel, general store, or smithy) which had developed at road intersections, and a road system which allowed anyone with access to a horse and carriage the easy ability to return from a day trip.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=41}} Economic functions, however, had already begun to centralize amongst a handful of major settlements.{{sfn|Dahms|1991|p=41}}

====House of Industry and Refuge====

In 1869, the County built a large [[poorhouse]] with an attached farm, the House of Industry and Refuge that accommodated some 3,200 people before being closed down in 1951; the building was subsequently demolished. It was located on Frederick St. in Kitchener, behind the now Frederick Street Mall and was intended to minimize the number of people begging, living on the streets or being incarcerated at a time before social welfare programmes became available. A 2009 report by the [[Toronto Star]] explains that "pauperism was considered a moral failing that could be erased through order and hard work".<ref name=Tyler>{{cite news |last=Tyler |first=Tracey |date=3 January 2009 |title=When 'poorhouse' wasn't only an expression |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2009/01/03/when_poorhouse_wasnt_only_an_expression.html | work=Toronto Star |location=Toronto |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref>

A research project by the Laurier School of Social Work has amassed all available data about the House and its former residents, digitized it and made the archive available on-line at WaterlooHouseOfRefuge.ca. According to Sandy Hoy, a director of research projects, the "inmates" included not only the poor, "but folks with disabilities, women, children. Some were single women who had been servants and became pregnant; in fact, many were single mothers of all types.<ref name=MercerPoorhouse>{{cite news |last=Mercer |first=Greg |date=12 March 2017  |title=A virtual museum for the 'poorhouse' |url=http://m.therecord.com/news-story/7186322-a-virtual-museum-for-the-poorhouse- | work=Record |location=Kitchener |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://waterloohouseofrefuge.ca/home-slider/header-for-featured-content/ |title=Waterloo County House of Industry and Refuge |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=March 2017 |website=Waterloo House of Refuge  |publisher=Social Innovation Research Group  |access-date=13 March 2017 |quote=The poorhouse was one of the earliest forms of social welfare available to people without other options for food, shelter, or the care needed for their survival. The poorhouse became the place to send people who were very poor, desperate, distressed, disabled, pregnant without support, old, or ill so that they were outside the view of other citizens.}}</ref> There were also two cemeteries for the poor nearby, including "inmates" of the House who had died.<ref name="MercerSearching">{{cite news|last1=Mercer|first1=Greg|title=Searching for Kitchener's lost graveyards|url=http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5273274-searching-for-kitchener-s-lost-graveyards/|access-date=25 March 2017|work=The Record|date=25 January 2015}}</ref>

===Later railway development (1894–1955)===
====Street railways====
{{Main|Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway|Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway}}

[[File:Berlin & Waterloo Street Railway Canadian Block photo.jpg|thumb|A streetcar seen in downtown Berlin in 1905.]]<!-- this photo was chosen to visually highlight quintessential features of a streetcar: street running operations, urban setting, high contact with people. -->

Although railways had arrived in Waterloo County in the 1850s, [[street railway]]s only arrived several decades later. Urban railways offered a number of advantages to developing communities, but required a serious infrastructure investment which often fell to local municipalities or private businessmen. Street railways tended to lead to the development of the "streetcar strip" – highly developed urban commercial corridors – in contrast with older downtowns, which were usually less linear in form.{{sfn|Sullivan|2015}} With King Street already dominant as a linear commercial corridor, it was natural that early street railway development would connect two of the county's urban centres (Berlin and Waterloo) along this established route. This came about in 1888 in the form of the [[Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway]].{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=69}} It initially started operations with [[horsecar]] service before later owners electrified the line and began using electric [[streetcar]]s.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=69}}

The next street railway system to be constructed in the county was the [[Galt and Preston Street Railway]] in 1894, which, similarly to the Berlin and Waterloo, connected the existing urban centres of Galt and Preston.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=5}} It soon became the [[Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway]] after a [[branch line]] was built which connected Preston and Hespeler along the east bank of the [[Speed River]].{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=5}} This system hosted not just passengers and mail, but also full [[Rail freight transport|carload freight]].{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=6}} In 1904, the railway's Galt–Preston [[main line (railway)|mainline]] was effectively extended with the construction of the [[Preston and Berlin Street Railway]] which, despite its name, took on many of the characteristics of an interurban. It featured two new [[freight yard]]s, one in Berlin and one in Waterloo.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=7}} These systems were gradually consolidated over several years and by 1914, they were known under the unified name of the [[Grand River Railway]],{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=6}} which dispensed with street railway nomenclature. The Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway, in contrast, never lost its street railway traits and continued to operate similarly in the 20th century under [[Kitchener Public Utilities Commission]] management as it had in the 19th century, until its eventual shutdown in 1946.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=80}}

====Interurban railways====
{{Main|Grand River Railway|Lake Erie and Northern Railway}}

[[File:Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway 81 crossing over the Grand River on the Freeport bridge.jpg|thumb|An interurban train crossing the Grand River.]]<!-- this photo was chosen to emphasize quintessential traits of an interurban: mostly separate from but near streets, increasing multiple-unit operation, not necessarily urban setting, higher capacity and lower frequency than a streetcar. -->

By the turn of the 20th century, [[interurban]] railways had begun to spread throughout North America. These were a natural evolution from street railways, but represented a more substantial commitment to regional rail infrastructure. The Grand River Railway was noted by rail historian John M. Mills as one of the earliest interurbans in Canada, and "for many years one of the most energetic and progressive."{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=3}} While plans for a northern extension of the mainline never resulted in new construction, a succession of lines provided connections to the south. These were the [[Grand Valley Railway]], built as an extension of the [[Brantford Street Railway]] and extended north to Galt in 1903,{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=54}} and the [[Lake Erie and Northern Railway]], a more modern successor to the Grand Valley Railway which opened in 1916.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=31}}

Taken as a sum, these interurban lines created direct rail connections between Waterloo County, [[County of Brant|Brant County]], and [[Norfolk County, Ontario|Norfolk County]], as well as [[Interchange (freight rail)|freight interchange]] with significant [[Canadian National Railway]], [[Canadian Pacific Railway]], and [[Michigan Central Railroad]] lines and intercity stations.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=10}}{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=32}} In fact, both lines were indirectly controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and starting in 1931, they were managed together as a single entity known as the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines. Ridership on passenger trips declined, and services began to be cut starting in the late 1930s with the cancellation of trips to Waterloo,{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=20}} though the system had a brief swan song in ridership during the Second World War.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=42}} Regular passenger service ended in 1955.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=25}} Freight service continued, though the line was extensively relocated to make room for highway expansion in south Kitchener during the 1960s.{{sfn|Mills|1977|p=26}}

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

[[Image:PioneerTower-plaque.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Pioneer Tower honours the Mennonite Germans who helped populate Waterloo County.]]

Both the immigrants from Germany and the Mennonites from Pennsylvania spoke German of course, though with different dialects such as Low German or the incorrectly called [[Pennsylvania Dutch]], actually Pennsilfaanisch ''Deitsch'' (German).<ref name="Barb">{{cite web|last1=Draper|first1=Barb|title=10 things to know about Mennonites in Canada|url=https://www.canadianmennonite.org/stories/10-things-know-about-mennonites-canada|publisher=Canadian Mennonite|access-date=28 March 2017|language=en|date=12 January 2017}}</ref> (This dialect is different from [[Standard German]] with a simplified grammatical structure, some differences in vocabulary and pronunciation and a greater influence of English.) The combination of various types of German-speaking groups was a notable factor in the history of Waterloo County. The two groups of Germans were able to understand each other quite easily{{sfn|Bloomfield|1997}} and there was no apparent conflict between the Germans from Europe and those who came from Pennsylvania.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/category/pre-1914/ |title=Religion in Waterloo North (Pre 1911) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region |access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref>

Some sources estimate that roughly 50,000 Germans directly from Europe settled in a large area of Southern Ontario, in and around Waterloo County, between the 1830s and 1850s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/german-canadians/ |title=German Canadians |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Bloomfield|Foster|Forgay|1993}}

In 1862, German-speaking groups held The Sängerfest, or "Singer Festival" concert event that attracted an estimated 10,000 people and continued for several years.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/tag/1911/ |title=Waterloo Region 1911 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region WWI |publisher=University of Waterloo |access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref> Eleven years later, 
the over 2000 Germans in Berlin, Ontario started a new event, Friedenfest, commemorating Prussian victory Franco-Prussian war. This annual celebration continued until the start of WWI.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/1871/01/friedensfest-1871/ |title=Friedensfest (1871) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region WWI |publisher=University of Waterloo |access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref> In 1897, they raised funds to erect a large monument, with a bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm 1, in Victoria Park. (The monument would be destroyed by townspeople just after the start of WWI.)<ref name="Cook" />

By 1871, nearly 55 percent of the population had German origins, including both those of Pennsylvania Mennonite and European Germans. This group greatly outnumbered the Scots (18 per cent), the English 
(12.6 per cent) and the Irish (8 per cent).{{sfn|Bloomfield|Foster|Forgay|1993}} Berlin, Ontario was a bilingual town with German being the dominant language spoken. More than one visitor commented on the necessity of speaking German in Berlin.

Immigration from continental Germany slowed by 1880. First and second-generation descendants now comprised most of the local German population, and while they were proud of their German roots, most considered themselves loyal British subjects. The 1911 Census indicates that of the 15,196 residents in Berlin, Ontario, about 70% were identified as ethnic German but only 8.3% had been born in Germany. By the beginning of the First World War in 1914, Berlin and Waterloo County were still considered to be predominantly German by people across Canada. This would prove to have a profound impact on local citizens during the war years. During the first few months of the war, services an activities at Lutheran churches in Waterloo County continued on as they always had. However, as anti-German sentiment increased throughout Waterloo County, many of the churches decided to stop holding services in German.<ref name="auto2">"City on Edge: Berlin Becomes Kitchener in 1916" Exhibit at Waterloo Region Museum, on display 2016.</ref>

By the early 1900s, North Waterloo County (the Kitchener, Waterloo and Woolwich Township areas) exhibited a strong German culture and those of German origin made up a third of the population in 1911, with Lutherans as the primary religious group. The Mennonites at that time primarily resided in the rural areas and small communities.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/category/pre-1914/ |title=Waterloo Region Pre-1914 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region WWI |publisher=University of Waterloo |access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref>

The governor general of Canada, the Duke of Connaught, while visiting Berlin, Ontario, in May 1914, discussed the importance of [[Canadians of German ethnicity]] (regardless of their origin) in a speech: "It is of great interest to me that many of the citizens of Berlin are of German descent. I well know the admirable qualities – the thoroughness, the tenacity, and the loyalty of the great Teutonic Race, to which I am so closely related. I am sure that these inherited qualities will go far in the making of good Canadians and loyal citizens of the British Empire".<ref name="auto2"/>
[[Image:Waterloo oktoberfest.jpg|thumb|upright|The Oktoberfest Timeteller, a traditional display in Waterloo]]
Nonetheless, before and during World War I, there was some [[Anti-German sentiment]] in Canada and some cultural sanctions on the community, particularly in Berlin, Ontario. However, by 1919 most of the population of what would become Kitchener, Waterloo and Elmira were "Canadian"; over 95 percent had been born In Ontario.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://waterlooregionww1.uwaterloo.ca/tag/1911/ |title=Waterloo Region 1911 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=Waterloo Region WWI |publisher=University of Waterloo |access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref> 
Those of the Mennonite religion were pacifist so they could not enlist and the few who had immigrated from Germany (not born in Canada) could not morally fight against a country that was a significant part of their heritage.<ref name="WartimeConscription">{{cite web|title=Mennonites and conscription|url=http://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-i/conscription/mennonites-and-conscription|website=wartimecanada.ca|publisher=Wartime Canada|access-date=25 March 2017|language=en|archive-date=15 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315085646/http://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-i/conscription/mennonites-and-conscription|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news |last=D'Amato |first=Louisa |date=28 June 2014 |title=First World War ripped away Canada's 'age of innocence' |url=https://www.kitchenerpost.ca/news-story/4605027-first-world-war-ripped-away-canada-s-age-of-innocence-/ | work=Kitchener Post, Waterloo Region Record |location=Kitchener |access-date=14 March 2017}}</ref> 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.".<ref name="CBCNameChange">{{cite news|title=Kitchener mayor notes 100th year of name change|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/kitchener-ontario-berlin-name-change-100-years-tom-reitz-berry-vrbanovic-1.3744212|access-date=25 March 2017|work=CBC News|date=1 September 2016|language=en}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/firstworldwar/025005-3300-e.html |title=ARCHIVED - Did You Know That… - ARCHIVED - Canada and the First World War - Library and Archives Canada |date=30 June 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630163552/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/firstworldwar/025005-3300-e.html#d |archive-date=30 June 2016 }}</ref>

The [[Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower]] built in 1926 commemorates the settlement by the Pennsylvania 'Dutch' (actually Pennsilfaanisch ''Deitsch'', or German) of the [[Grand River (Ontario)|Grand River]] area of Waterloo County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=3297|title=HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca}}</ref>

This county is still home to the largest population of Old Order Mennonites in Canada, particularly in the areas around St Jacobs and Elmira.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canadaalive.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/old-order-mennonites/|title=Old Order Mennonites|date=31 March 2014}}</ref>

Running for nearly 50 years now, the [[Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest]] has been a remembrance of the Region's German Heritage. The event includes beer halls and German entertainment, as well as a major parade,  The second largest Oktoberfest in the world, the event is based on the original [[Germany|German]] [[Oktoberfest]] and is billed as ''Canada's Greatest [[Bavaria]]n Festival''. In recent years, it has been attracting an average of 700,000 people to the county. During the 2016 Oktoberfest parade, an estimated 150,000 people lined the streets along the route.<ref name="Baker">{{cite news|last1=Baker|first1=Jennifer K.|title=Oktoberfest 2016 comes to a close|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/oktoberfest-2016-comes-to-a-close/|access-date=25 March 2017|work=CTV Kitchener|date=16 October 2016|language=en-CA}}</ref>

==Successor==
[[Image:MarketSquare-Frederick&KingStE-Kitchener.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Market Square, a former urban mall on the corner of Frederick St. and King St East in Kitchener.]]
Created in 1853, Waterloo County consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries, including the cities, towns and villages in each area.

The county was dissolved in 1973 and the new [[Regional Municipality of Waterloo]], was formed, consisting of the cities of [[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]], [[Cambridge, Ontario|Cambridge]], and [[Waterloo, Ontario|Waterloo]] and the townships of [[Wellesley, Ontario|Wellesley]], [[Woolwich, Ontario|Woolwich]], [[Wilmot, Ontario|Wilmot]], and [[North Dumfries, Ontario|North Dumfries]]. In addition, a small portion of [[Beverley Township, Ontario|Beverley Township]], in the former [[Wentworth County, Ontario|Wentworth County]] (now [[Hamilton, Ontario|City of Hamilton]]), was added to North Dumfries and the Waterloo Region.

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

The Region of Waterloo, with Jack A. Young as its first chairman, took over many services, including Police, waste management, recreation, planning, roads and social services.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?corpId=58cynQlfgqiAYQyTLmpurQeQuAleQuAl&newsId=QXgUIE1G6huJ6eu741OyPlUsgeQuAleQuAl |title=Get to Know Us During Local Government Week |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=10 October 2012 |website=Waterloo Region |access-date=23 March 2013 |archive-date=22 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322030411/http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?corpId=58cynQlfgqiAYQyTLmpurQeQuAleQuAl&newsId=QXgUIE1G6huJ6eu741OyPlUsgeQuAleQuAl |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Region is 1,369 square kilometres in size and its regional seat of government is in [[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]]. The Region's population was 535,154 at the [[Canada 2016 Census|2016 census]].<ref name=Outhit>{{cite news |last=Outhit |first=Jeff |date=8 February 2017 |title=Waterloo Region growing but not as fast, census shows |url=http://www.therecord.com/news-story/7110570-waterloo-region-growing-but-not-as-fast-census-shows/ | work=Record |location=Kitchener |access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref> The former village, town and city councils joined into the council of a new township or city. An overseeing [[regional municipality|regional]] council handles the former county-level responsibilities, as well as now providing [[police]] and other service for the Region as a whole.

==See also==
* [[Former counties of Ontario]]
* [[List of townships in Ontario]]
* [[Anti-German sentiment]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===<span class="anchor" id="BibAnchor"></span>Bibliography===
{{refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Frederick H. |date= 1985 |title=Handbook of Upper Canadian Chronology |location= Toronto |publisher=[[Dundurn Press]] |page=195 |isbn=0-919670-92-X}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Bassler |first=Gerhard P. |title=German Canadians |date=30 July 2013 |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/german-canadians |access-date=16 April 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Bauman |first=Angus Spaeth |date=1940 |title=Family records, mostly of three distinct groups and descendants of Joseph, David and Henry Bauman, who settled as pioneers in Waterloo Township, Waterloo County, up to the year of 1825, each representing one of the three tribes of Christian, Peter and Jacob respectively, who are children of the old progenitor Wendel Bauman |location=Wallenstein, Ontario |url=https://archive.org/details/familyrecordsmos00baum}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bloomfield |first=Elizabeth |title=Building Community on the Frontier: the Mennonite contribution to shaping the Waterloo settlement to 1861 |journal=Ontario Mennonite History |date=October 1997 |volume=15 |issue=2 |url=https://www.mhso.org/sites/default/files/publications/Ontmennohistory15-2.pdf |access-date=28 March 2017}}
* {{cite book |last=Bloomfield |first=Elizabeth |title=Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries |date=1995 |location=Kitchener |publisher=Waterloo Historical Society |isbn=0-9699719-0-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/waterlootownship0000bloo/ |url-access=limited }}
* {{cite book |last1=Bloomfield |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Foster |first2=Linda |last3=Forgay |first3=Jane|title=Waterloo County to 1972: an annotated bibliography of regional history |date=1993 |publisher=Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation |location=Waterloo |isbn=9780969693604 |url=https://archive.org/details/waterloocountyto00bloo}}
* {{cite book |last=Breithaupt |first=William Henry |editor1-last=Middleton |editor1-first=Jesse Edgar |editor2-last=Landon |editor2-first=Fred |title=Province of Ontario – A History 1615 to 1927 |date=1927 |publisher=Dominion Publishing Company |location=Toronto |chapter=History of Waterloo County}}
* {{cite report |last=Breithaupt |first=William Henry |chapter=Early Roads And Transportation: Upper Canada |pages=59–66 |chapter-url=https://www.transportsourcebook.ca/waterloo-historical-society/yr1919-early-roads-and-transportation.php |title=Seventh Annual Report Of the Waterloo Historical Society, 1919 |date=1919 |url=https://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1919.pdf |location=Kitchener |publisher=Waterloo Historical Society}}
* {{cite journal |last=Burghardt |first=Andrew F. |title=Some Economic Constraints on Land Transportation in Upper Canada/Canada West |journal=Urban History Review |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |volume=18 |number=3 |date=February 1990 |pages=232–236 |doi=10.7202/1017719ar |jstor=43561991|doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |last=Connon |first=John |title=The Early History of Elora, Ontario and Vicinity |year=1975 |publisher=[[Wilfrid Laurier University Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWpRIAuScXMC |isbn=978-0-88920-012-8}}
* {{cite report |last=Cruikshank |first=E. A. |date=1927 |article=The Reserve of the Six Nations on the Grand River and the Mennonite Purchase of Block No. 2 |title=Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society |volume=15 |publisher=Chronicle Press |location=Waterloo, Ontario |url=https://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1927.pdf}} 
* {{cite journal |last=Dahms |first=Fred |title=Change and Stability Within an Urban Hierarchy: Waterloo County 1864 to 1971 |date=June 1991 |journal=Urban History Review |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |volume=20 |number=1 |pages=38–47 |doi=10.7202/1017563ar |jstor=43562061|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last=Eby |first=Ezra E. |date=1895 |title=A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and Other Townships of the County |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_10019 |location=Berlin, Ontario|isbn=9780665100192 }}
* {{Cite DCB |last1=Good |first=E. Reginald |last2=Tiessen |first2=Paul |title=Schneider, Joseph |volume=7 |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/schneider_joseph_7E.html |year=1988}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Kallmann |first1=Helmut |last2=Kemp |first2=Walter P. |title=Sängerfeste |date=7 February 2006 |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sangerfeste-emc |access-date=21 April 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Heinz |editor-last=Bassler |editor-first=Gerhard P. |translator-last=Bassler |translator-first=Gerhard P. |title=The German Canadians 1750–1937: Immigration, Settlement & Culture |date=1986 |publisher=Jesperson Press |isbn=978-1-55081-308-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Mills |first=John M. |title=Traction on The Grand: The Story of Electric Railways along Ontario's Grand River Valley |publisher=Railfare Enterprises |date=1977 |isbn=0-919130-27-5}}
* {{cite report |author=Ontario Commission on Municipal Institutions |title=First Report of the Commission on Municipal Institutions |date=1888 |publisher=Warwick & Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2svAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Robinson|first=Curtis B. |date=2019 |title=Ethnic Elites, Propaganda, Recruiting and Intelligence in German-Canadian Ontario, 1914–1918 |type=PhD thesis |publisher=[[Memorial University of Newfoundland]] |location=St. John's |url=https://research.library.mun.ca/13804/1/thesis.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130175744/https://research.library.mun.ca/13804/1/thesis.pdf |archive-date=30 November 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=21 April 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=William H. |date=1846 |title=Smith's Canadian Gazetteer |url=https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit |location=Toronto |publisher=H. & W. Rowsell}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/streetcars |title=Streetcars |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |first=Brian E. |last=Sullivan |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |date=2015 |access-date=12 April 2021}}
* {{cite book |first=James |last=Sutherland |title=County of Waterloo Gazetteer and General Business Directory, For 1864 |location=Toronto |publisher=Mitchell & Co. |year=1864 |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/001075/f2/e010780571_p1.pdf}}
* {{Cite DCB |last=Wust |first=Klaus |title=Gaukel, Friedrich |volume=8 |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gaukel_friedrich_8E.html}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Doering |first=J. Frederick |title=Pennsylvania German Folk Medicine in Waterloo County, Ontario |year=1936 |journal=[[Journal of American Folklore]] |publisher=[[American Folklore Society]] |volume=49 |number=193 |pages=194–198 |doi=10.2307/535400|jstor=535400 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dunham |first=Bertha Mabel |author-link=Mabel Dunham |title=The Trail of the Conestoga |url=https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/dunham-conestoga/dunham-conestoga-00-h.html |date=October 1924 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Geoffrey |title=Waterloo County: An Illustrated History |date=1997 |publisher=Waterloo Historical Society |location=Kitchener |isbn=0-9699719-1-5}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hayes |first=Geoffrey |title=From Berlin to the Trek of the Conestoga: A Revisionist Approach to Waterloo County's German Identity |journal=Ontario History |date=Autumn 1999 |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=131–150 |url=http://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/From-Berlin-to-the-Trek-of-the-Conestoga-by-Geoffrey-Hayes.pdf |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717094122/http://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/From-Berlin-to-the-Trek-of-the-Conestoga-by-Geoffrey-Hayes.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2020 |url-status=live |issn=0030-2953}}
* {{cite report |last=Hunter |first=Andrew F. |chapter=The Trail of the Aborigines through Waterloo County |chapter-url=https://www.transportsourcebook.ca/waterloo-historical-society/yr1927-trail-of-aborigines.php |title=Fifteenth Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society |date=1927 |publisher=Chronicle Press |location=Waterloo, Ontario |url=https://www.whs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1927.pdf}}
* {{cite book |last=Johnston |first=Mary A. |date=1975 |title=The Trail of the Slate: A history of early education in Waterloo County, 1802{{ndash}}1912}}
* {{cite book |last=Leibbrandt |first=Gottlieb |translator-last=Weissenborn |translator-first=G. K. |title=Little Paradise, The Saga of the German Canadians of Waterloo County, Ontario 1800–1975 |year=1980 |orig-year=1977 |publisher=Allprint Co |location=Kitchener |isbn=0-919207-01-4}}
* {{cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Kenneth |editor1-last=Burke |editor1-first=Susan M. |editor2-last=Hill |editor2-first=Matthew H. |title=From Pennsylvania to Waterloo: Pennsylvania-German Folk Culture in Transition |date=1991 |publisher=[[Schneider Haus|Joseph Schneider Haus]] |location=Kitchener |isbn=0-9695578-0-9 |pages=35–45 |chapter=Waterloo County: A Pennsylvania-German Homeland}}
* {{cite book |last=Reaman |first=George Elmore |title=The Trail of the Black Walnut |date=1965 |edition=revised |location=Toronto |publisher=McClelland and Stewart}}
* {{cite book |last=Spetz |first=Theobald |year=1916 |title=The Catholic Church in Waterloo County |publisher=The Catholic Register and Extension |url=https://archive.org/stream/catholicchurchin00spetuoft/catholicchurchin00spetuoft}}

{{WaterlooRegion}}
{{Subdivisions of Ontario}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Former counties in Ontario]]
[[Category:History of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1853]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1973]]