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Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about 94 km (58 mi) west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the close proximity of the city of Kitchener to Waterloo, the two together are often referred to as "Kitchener–Waterloo", "K-W" or "The Twin Cities".
While several unsuccessful attempts to combine the municipalities of Kitchener and Waterloo have been made, following the 1973 establishment of the Region of Waterloo, less motivation to do so existed, and as a result, Waterloo remains an independent city. At the time of the 2021 census, the population of Waterloo was 121,436.[2]
After the end of the American Revolution, Joseph Brant, a Mohawk war chief, wanted Frederick Haldimand to give the Mohawk and Six Nations a tract of land surrounding the Grand River, in return for their loyalty to the British in the war.[5][6] Haldimand's 1784 Haldimand Proclamation granted the land "six miles deep from either side of the [Grand River] beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the very head of the said river."[5][6] Haldimand, who had previously ordered for potential mill sites to be identified in the region, decreed in 1788 that mill sites would be included in the grant (which would not have been included otherwise).[7] In 1796, Richard Beasley purchased Block Number 2 of the grant from Joseph Brant (on behalf of the Six Nations) with a mortgage held by the Six Nations.[8] Block 2, 94,012 acres in size, was situated in the District of Gore. To meet his mortgage obligations, Beasley had to sell portions of the land to settlers.[8] This was counter to the original mortgage agreement, but subsequent changes to the agreement were made to permit land sales.
Mennonites from Pennsylvania counties Lancaster and Montgomery were the first wave of immigrants to the area.[9] In the year 1800 alone, Beasley sold over 14,000 acres to Mennonite settlers.[citation needed] A group of 26 Mennonites from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, pooled their resources into the German Company of Pennsylvania, which was then represented by Daniel Erb and Samuel Bricker.[citation needed] The company purchased all the unsold land from Beasley in 1803, resulting in a discharge of the mortgage held by the Six Nations. This discharge allowed Beasley to clear his obligation with the Six Nations, and allowed the settlers to have deeds to their purchased land.[10] The payment to Beasley, in cash, arrived from Pennsylvania in kegs, carried in a wagon surrounded by armed guards.[11]
Many of the pioneers who arrived from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a 60,000-acre tract of Block 2 from the German Company of Pennsylvania. The tract included almost two-thirds of Block 2. Many of the first farms were least 400 acres in size.[12]
Development (19th century)
The Mennonites divided the land into smaller lots; two lots owned by Abraham Erb—who is often called the founder of the Village of Waterloo[13]—became the central core of Waterloo. Erb had come to the area in 1806 from Pennsylvania.[7] He had bought 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) from the German Company Tract and settled where there was enough water power to operate mills.[7] He founded a sawmill in 1808 and grist mill in 1816; they saw business flourish.[13] 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.[12][14] Erb also built what is now known as the Erb-Kumpf House in c. 1812, making it likely one of the oldest homes in Waterloo.[15][16][17]
The first schoolhouse in Waterloo, built in 1820
The first school in what is now the City of Waterloo was built on land donated by Erb; the log building was constructed in 1820. A larger school house of stone was built in 1842 and was replaced with a brick school building in 1852. Over the decades, the log building was moved, eventually to Waterloo Park, where it still stands.[18] The German spoken in Waterloo County is based upon the 18th century Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.[19] In turn, the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect is based upon the dialect of German spoken in southwestern Germany.[19]
In 1816, the new Waterloo Township was officially incorporated while being named after Waterloo, Belgium, the site of the Battle of Waterloo (1815), which had ended the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.[20] After that war, the new township became a popular destination for German immigrants. By the 1840s, German settlers had overtaken the Mennonites as the dominant segment of the population. Many Germans settled in the small hamlet to the southeast of Waterloo. In their honour, the village was named Berlin in 1833 (renamed to Kitchener in 1916). The first Catholic family to arrive were the Spetz family from Alsace who came in 1828.[21]
By 1831, Waterloo had a small post office in the King and Erb Street area, operated by Daniel Snyder, some 11 years before one would open in neighbouring Berlin.[22][23] 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 sawmills 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.[24] By comparison, Berlin (Kitchener) had a population of about 400, also "mostly German", and more tradesmen than the village of Waterloo.[25]
Berlin was chosen as the site of the seat for the County of Waterloo in 1853. By 1869, the population was 2000.[26] Waterloo was incorporated as a village in 1857 and became the Town of Waterloo in 1876.[4] The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission began providing streetcar service in the region in 1888.
20th and 21st centuries
The Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway (later called the Grand River Railway) connected to Waterloo in 1911 and ended service in 1931.[27][28] The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission stopped providing streetcar service in 1947, and were replaced by electric trolley coaches. Waterloo was incorporated as the City of Waterloo in 1948.[4] The trolley coaches ended service in 1973.[29]
In June 2011, the Waterloo Region council approved the Ion: a light rail transit line connecting Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo and Fairview Park Mall in south Kitchener.[32] Construction on the Ion began in August 2014. In 2016, two sections of a corduroy road were unearthed. One was in the King Street area of the business district and the second was discovered near the Conestoga Mall. The road was probably built by Mennonites using technology acquired in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, between the late 1790s and 1816.[citation needed] The log road was buried in about 1840 and a new road built on top of it.[33][34] A historian[who?] 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".[35] Ion service began in 2019 and experienced a daily ridership of 25,000 in November 2020.[36]
Uptown looking Northwest from the Uptown Parkade. Landmarks visible include the Marsland Centre on the extreme left and Waterloo City Hall on the extreme right.
Geography
King Street South in Uptown Waterloo
Waterloo's city centre is near the intersection of King and Erb streets. The city centre was once along Albert Street, near the Marsland Centre and the Waterloo Public Library. The town hall, fire hall, and farmers' market were located there. Amidst some controversy, all were demolished between 1965 and 1969.
Historically, Waterloo's swamp land near where the village was first developed caused problems for development.[7] To mitigate these issues, sand was taken from nearby areas to raise the land; buildings were built on foundations of oak planks; and King Street was originally built as a corduroy road.[13]
Waterways
The Grand River, as seen to the north-east of Waterloo
The Grand River flows southward along the city's east side. Its most significant tributary within the city is Laurel Creek, whose source lies just to the west of the city limits and its mouth just to the east, and crosses much of the city's central areas, including the University of Waterloo lands and Waterloo Park; it flows under the uptown area in a culvert. In the city's west end, the Waterloo Moraine provides over 300,000 people in the region with drinking water. Much of the gently hilly Waterloo Moraine underlies existing developed areas. Ongoing urban growth, mostly low-density residential suburbs (in accordance with requests by land developers), will cover increasing amounts of the remaining undeveloped portions of the Waterloo Moraine.
Climate
Waterloo has a humid continental climate of the warm summer subtype (Dfb under the Köppen climate classification);[37] this means that there are large seasonal differences, with warm, humid summers and cold winters. Compared to other parts of Canada, Waterloo has fairly moderate weather. Winter temperatures usually occur between mid-December and mid-March, while summer temperatures generally occur between mid-May and late September. It is not uncommon for temperatures to exceed 30 °C (86 °F) several times each summer. Waterloo has approximately 140 frost-free days per year.
As of the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Waterloo has a population of 121,436, a change of 15.7% from its 2016 population of 104,986.[2] With a land area of 64.06 km2 (24.73 sq mi), the city has a population density of 1,895.7/km2 (4,909.7/sq mi).[2] As of 2021, the median age is 36.0 years old, as compared to 37.7 in 2016.[2][43] Waterloo's median age is 13% lower than Ontario's median age, which is 41.6 years old.[44]
At the census metropolitan area (CMA) level in the 2021 census, the Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo CMA had a population of 575,847 living in 219,060 of its 229,809 total private dwellings, a change of 9.9% from its 2016 population of 523,894. With a land area of 1,092.33 km2 (421.75 sq mi), it had a population density of 527.2/km2 (1,365.4/sq mi) in 2021.[2]
Ethnicity
The most common ethnic or cultural origins reported in Waterloo in 2021 were German (17.9%), English (17.0%), Scottish (14.6%), Irish (14.3%), Canadian (10.2%), Chinese (8.9%), Indian (6.4%), French (6.0%), British Isles (4.1%), Polish (4.1%), Dutch (3.9%), Italian (3.3%), and Ukrainian (2.4%).[45]Indigenous people made up 1.3% of the population, mostly First Nations (0.7%) and Métis (0.5%). Ethnocultural backgrounds in the city included European (63.7%), South Asian (10.7%), Chinese (9.2%), Black (3.1%), Arab (2.7%), Latin American (1.9%), West Asian (1.7%), Southeast Asian (1.4%), Korean (1.4), and Filipino (1.0%).[2]
Panethnic groups in the City of Waterloo (2001−2021)
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.
Religion
In 2021, 45.8% of the population identified as Christian, with Catholics (17.9%) making up the largest denomination, followed by United Church (3.3%), Lutheran (3.2%), Anglican (2.8%), Orthodox (2.4%), and other denominations. 37.7% of the population reported no religious affiliation. Others identified as Muslim (8.1%), Hindu (4.7%), Sikh (1.2%), Buddhist (1.1%), and with other religions.[2]
The Sun Life Financial building is currently the tallest building in Waterloo.
The Marsland Centre in Uptown Waterloo
View from the parkade in Uptown Waterloo
According to the 2016 Canadian Census, Waterloo has a median household income (after tax) of $72,239.[51] This is significantly higher than the national median of $61,348. The unemployment rate in Waterloo (6.9%) is lower than the national rate of 7.7%. The median value of a dwelling in Waterloo ($399,997) is higher than the national median of $341,556.[51] The Intelligent Community Forum named Waterloo the Top Intelligent Community of 2007.[52]
The city is also home to three well-known think tanks – the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, an advanced centre for the study of foundational, theoretical physics and award-winning educational outreach in science; the Institute for Quantum Computing, based at the University of Waterloo, which carries out innovative research in the computer, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences; and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, an independent, nonpartisan think tank that addresses international governance challenges.
The city is part of Canada's Technology Triangle (CTT), a joint economic development initiative of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and the Region of Waterloo that markets the region internationally. Despite its name, CTT does not focus exclusively on promoting technology industries, but on all aspects of economic development.
Waterloo has a strong technology sector with hundreds of high-tech firms.[53] The dominant technology company in the city is BlackBerry, makers of the BlackBerry, which has its headquarters in the city and owns several office buildings near the University of Waterloo's main campus.
Many other high-tech companies, with headquarters elsewhere, take advantage of the concentration of high-tech employees in the Waterloo area, and have research and development centres there. Shopify, SAP, Google, Oracle, Intel, McAfee, NCR Corporation, Electronic Arts and Agfa are among the large, international technology companies with development offices in Waterloo.
Before it became known for technology, Waterloo was sometimes[56] referred to as "the Hartford of Canada" because of the many insurance companies based in the area.[9]Manulife, Sun Life Financial, Equitable Life of Canada and Economical Insurance have a large presence in the city.
Breweries and distilleries had been a significant industry in the Waterloo area until 1993 when a Labatt-owned brewery was shut down. The Brick Brewing Company operated in Waterloo but is now based in Kitchener. Waterloo was the original home of distiller Seagram (also the home town of many descendants of J.P. Seagram), which closed its Waterloo plant in 1992. Of the remaining Seagram buildings, one became home of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), while others were converted into condominiums.
The city encourages location filming of movies and TV series and many have taken advantage of Waterloo locations. Examples include Downsizing (released in 2017), The Demolisher (2015) and Degrassi: The Next Generation (2015).[57]
Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest is a nine-day Oktoberfest celebration held in both Kitchener and Waterloo.[58][59] It is the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world,[60] and the largest outside of Germany. In 2013, CBC reported that the festival receives over 700,000 annual visitors, has 1,780 volunteers, was broadcast to 1.8 million national television viewers, and generated an estimated $21 million of economic activity.[58]Tri-Pride is a non-profit LGBT pride festival held annually during Pride Month in the "tri-cities" of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo.[61][62]
Created in 1890,[74] 45-hectare (110-acre) Waterloo Park is an urban park in Uptown Waterloo which includes an animal farm, sports fields, and a splash pad.[75] It is the oldest park in the city; the mixed-use Laurel Trail and the rapid transit Ion line both run through the park.[76] 44-hectare (110-acre) Bechtel Park is located in eastern Waterloo, and houses a dog park, three soccer fields, a field house, and more.[77]Laurel Creek Conservation Area is in western Waterloo—north-west of University of Waterloo's Environmental Reserve—and houses 122 campsites, 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) of trails, and facilities for canoeing, swimming, windsurfing, cycling, and sailing.[78][79]
The Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, then described as the "largest and most expensive project in the city's history", opened in 1993.[80] It includes an arena seating 3,500, swimming and banquet facilities, and an indoor track.[80] 123-hectare (300-acre) RIM Park, originally called Millennium Park, opened in September 2001.[81] Its features include outdoor soccer fields, ice rinks, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, meeting rooms and more.[81] RIM Park is in proximity to the Walter Bean Grand River Trail, Grey Silo Golf Course, and Waterloo Public Library's Eastside Branch.[81][82] There are a number of small playgrounds, woodlots, and recreation facilities around Waterloo which are not mentioned above due to their size.
Trails for walking, hiking, and biking play an important part in Waterloo's recreational infrastructure. Waterloo had 150 kilometres (93 mi) of trails by 2007, as compared to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of trails in 1987.[83] The 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) Iron Horse Trail, connecting Waterloo and Kitchener, opened in 1997.[84] Then-mayor Joan McKinnon brought upon the connection of the Trans Canada Trail into the Waterloo Region, which ran from the Iron Horse Trail to Waterloo's northern boundary.[83]
The 76-kilometre (47 mi)[85]Walter Bean Grand River Trail, announced in 1999, served to create an accessible trail along the Grand River.[83]Waterloo: An Illustrated History, 1857–2007 states, "[the trail] was particularly needed in Waterloo as the river's geographic location on the edge of the city meant that, unlike so many other Canadian cities, the river had not historically played a central role in the community."[83]
Waterloo was part of Waterloo County until 1973 when a restructuring created the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, which consists of the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge, and the townships of Woolwich, Wilmot, Wellesley, and North Dumfries. The Region handles many services, including paramedic services, policing, waste management, recreation, planning, roads and social services.[87] The Waterloo Award, established in 1997, is the highest civic honour a person can receive from the City of Waterloo.[88]
Waterloo City Council consists of a mayor and seven councillors, each representing a ward. The number of wards was increased from five to seven in the November 2006 elections. As of 2022, the mayor of Waterloo is Dorothy McCabe, elected in October 2022. The current Waterloo councillors are as follows, as of 2022, listed by ascending ward number: Sandra Hanmer (Southwest Ward), Royce Bodaly (Northwest Ward), Hans Roach (Lakeshore Ward), Diane Freeman (Northeast Ward), Jen Vasic (Southeast Ward), Mary Lou Roe (Central-Columbia Ward), and Julie Wright (Uptown Ward).[89]
In politics, Waterloo is within the federal electoral district of Waterloo, and within the provincial electoral district also named Waterloo.
The controlled-accessHighway 85, part of the larger Conestoga Parkway, is the only provincial highway that runs through Waterloo. To the north, the divided freeway ends at the city limit, and the road becomes Waterloo Regional Road 85, which accesses St. Jacobs and Elmira, before ending in Elmira. To the south, Highway 85 becomes Highway 7 within Kitchener, before diverging into eastbound Highway 8 (to Cambridge, Highway 401 interchange, and Hamilton) and westbound Highway 7/8 (to New Hamburg, Stratford, and Goderich). Highway 85 has 5 interchanges within Waterloo, from north to south, with the regional road number in brackets: King Street (15), Northfield Drive (50), King Street (15), University Avenue (57), and Bridgeport Road (9).
Waterloo is not currently served by any regularly scheduled passenger rail service. The nearby Kitchener station is accessible from Waterloo through buses or a transfer from Ion's Kitchener Central Station. Kitchener station is serviced by the Kitchener line and the Corridor, operated by GO Transit and Via Rail respectively.[90][91] Both services are infrequent. On weekdays, the commuter rail GO trains run eastbound (to Toronto) nine times per day, and westbound eight times per day.[92] No Kitchener line trains are run on the weekends.[92] Including weekends, Via Rail operates one train per day, both westbound and eastbound.[90][93][94]
Hospital services in the region are provided by Grand River Hospital which includes a Freeport Campus and St. Mary's General Hospital, both in Kitchener, as well as Cambridge Memorial Hospital.[97] All three were highly ranked for safety in a national comparison study in 2017–2018, particularly the two in Kitchener, but all would benefit from reduced wait times.[98] Long-term care beds are provided at numerous facilities.[99]
Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services and Waterloo Fire Rescue respond to medical emergencies within the city of Waterloo. Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services may transport patients to either Grand River Hospital or St. Mary's General Hospital emergency departments, depending on proximity, anticipated wait times and the type of emergency.
Grand River Hospital has a capacity of 574-beds; the Freeport location was merged into it in April 1995.[100] That secondary campus provides complex continuing care, rehabilitation, longer-term specialized mental health and other services.[101] The King St. location is also the home of the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre which opened in 2003.[102] 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.[103][104] As of late 2018, Cambridge Memorial had 143 beds but was in the midst of a major expansion expected to be completed in 2021.[105]
Family doctors are often in short supply 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.[106]
Announced January 2006, as a new School of Medicine, the Waterloo Regional Campus of McMaster University was completed in 2009. In 2018, the Waterloo 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.[107]
The entrance to Waterloo Public Library's Main Branch in 2002
The Waterloo Public Library was founded in 1888. As of 2022, the library has 4 branches (in order of opening): the Main Branch, the Albert McCormick Branch, the John M. Harper Branch and the Eastside Branch.[108] The Waterloo's Mechanics' Institute, formed in 1875, was the origin of the Waterloo Public Library.[109] Operating out of the then town hall, they offered books at a subscription fee.[109] The fees were abolished in 1887-8 and the city took control over the library, calling it Waterloo Free Library.[109] In 1905, a Carnegie library was built to house the books, across from the current location of the Main Branch, which replaced it in 1964.[109] The Eastside Branch, opened May 7, 2022, is the newest branch built.[110] The $10-million library is built into the existing RIM Park Manulife Sportsplex and has around 35,000 books.[110]
Fire protection
Fire protection and rescue services are provided by Waterloo Fire Rescue, a service of the City of Waterloo. As of 2020, there are four active fire stations in Waterloo. Waterloo Fire Rescue responds to fires, medical emergencies, car accidents and chemical incidents.[111] (Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services also responds to medical emergencies.) When the two-tier regional government system was implemented in the early 1970s, police service was moved to the regional government, but fire service remained at the local municipality (city or township) level. From time to time, the media and interested parties raise the question of whether this service should remain at the city level, or whether there might be cost savings or service improvements if the various fire services were merged into regional fire service. A 2019 newspaper article stated that "there would likely be no cost savings, but service would improve under [a] regionalized system," in the view of some former fire chiefs.[112]
Policing
Waterloo Regional Police Service, the seventh-largest police service in the province of Ontario, provides general police service in the city of Waterloo.[113] The Waterloo Regional Police North Division is located at 45 Columbia Street East, Waterloo. Waterloo Regional Police also serve the municipalities of Kitchener and Cambridge and the Townships of Wellesley, Wilmot, Woolwich and North Dumfries. City of Waterloo bylaws controlling matters such as parking, weeds and noise are enforced by city bylaw enforcement officers.[114] The two universities each have special constables who are first responders to all emergencies at their respective university campuses. Special Constables may lay charges and/or make arrests under the same legal authority as police officers.[115] As of 2019, University of Waterloo Police Service had twenty-four Special Constables.[116][117] Wilfrid Laurier University also has a Special Constable Service.
The Ontario Provincial Police patrols provincial highways.[118] Two homicides were reported in the Waterloo Region in 2021, neither of which was in the city of Waterloo.[119]
^"Waterloo Township". Waterloo Region Museum Research. Region of Waterloo. 2013. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017. To correct the situation, a formal agreement was arranged between Brant and Beasley. This arrangement allowed Beasley to sell the bulk of Block 2 in order to cover his mortgage obligations completely while giving the Mennonite buyers legal title to the land they had purchased. 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 mortgage debt but left him with 10,000 acres of Block 2 land which he continued to sell into the 1830s.
^ ab"History"(PDF). Waterloo Historical Society 1930 Annual Meeting. Waterloo Historical Society. 1930. Archived(PDF) from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
^"Flash From the Past: Faster, smoother, quieter trolleys take over King Street". Waterloo Region Record. January 22, 2021. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021. From 1888 to 1947, Berlin/Kitchener and Waterloo had been connected by streetcars plying King Street. Initially powered by horses — but after 1895 by electricity via a single pole connecting with an overhead wire
^"About Us". SMGH. September 15, 2018. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
^"Banks take control of Cambridge hospital project". Waterloo Region Record. December 29, 2018. Archived from the original on June 19, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2018. BMO, as a lender and funder, called a performance bond to ensure there is funding to get the work done. Zurich Insurance is Bondfield's insurer.
^"Doctor recruitment an ongoing issue in Waterloo Region". Waterloo Region Record. September 18, 2018. Archived from the original on June 19, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2018. Although recruitment efforts over the past 15 years or so have brought many new physicians to the area, many residents are without a family doctor.
Waterloo
