The City of Kitchener is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The current population is 204,668. The metropolitan area, which includes the neighbouring cities of Waterloo and Cambridge, has 451,235 people, making it the eleventh largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Canada and the fifth largest CMA in Ontario. It is the seat of the Waterloo Regional Municipality, and is adjacent to the smaller cities of Cambridge to the south, and Waterloo to the north. Kitchener and Waterloo are often referred to jointly as "Kitchener-Waterloo" (K-W), although they have separate municipal governments. Including Cambridge, the three cities are known as "the tri-cities".
The City of Kitchener covers an area of 136.86 square kilometres. In 2004, the city celebrated its 150th anniversary.
History
In 1784, the land that Kitchener was built upon was an area given to the Six Nations by the British as a gift for their allegiance during the American Revolution; 240,000 hectares of land to be exact. From 1796 and 1798, the Six Nations sold 38,000 hectares of this land to a Loyalist by the name of Colonel Richard Beasley. The portion of land that Beasley had purchased was remote but it was of great interest to German Mennonite farming families from Pennsylvania. They wanted to live in an area that would allow them to practice their beliefs without persecution. Eventually, the Mennonites purchased all of Beasley’s unsold land creating 160 farm tracts. By 1800, the first buildings were built, and over the next decade several families made the difficult trip north to what was then known as the Sand Hills. One of these Mennonite families, arriving in 1807, was the Schneiders, whose restored 1816 home (the oldest building in the city) is now a museum located in the heart of Kitchener. Other families whose names can still be found in local place names were the Bechtels, the Ebys, the Erbs, the Weavers (better known today as the Webers) the Cressmans and the Brubachers. In 1816 the Government of Upper Canada designated the settlement the Township of Waterloo.
Much of the land, made up of moraines and swampland interspersed with rivers and streams, was converted to farmland and roads. Wild pigeons, which once swarmed by the tens of thousands, were driven from the area. Apple trees were introduced to the region by John Eby in the 1830s, and several grist- and sawmills (most notably Joseph Schneider's 1816 sawmill, John and Abraham Erb's grist- and sawmills and Eby's cider mill) were erected throughout the area. Schneider built the town's first road, from his home to the corner of King Street and Queen Street (then known as Walper corner). $1000 was raised by the settlers to extend the road from Walper corner to Huether corner, where the Huether Brewery was built and the Huether Hotel now stands; a petition to the government for $100 to assist in completing the project was denied.
Immigration to the town increased considerably from 1816 until the 1870s, many of the newcomers being of German (particularly Mennonite) extraction. In 1833 the town was renamed Berlin, and in 1853 Berlin became the County Seat of the newly created County of Waterloo, elevating it to the status of Village. The extension of the Grand Trunk Railway from Sarnia to Toronto (and hence through Berlin) in July 1856 was a major boon to the community, helping to improve industrialization in the area. On June 9, 1912, Berlin was officially designated a city.
The originally large German population was the reason for the settlement being named Berlin. However, when the First World War began it became important for the citizens to separate themselves from Canada’s opponents. In 1916, Berlin changed its name to Kitchener; named after Boer War hero Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener.
On September 17, 1981, the first ever "blue box" recycling program was launched in Kitchener. Today, more than 90% of Ontario households have access to recycling programs and annually they divert more than 650,000 tonnes of secondary resource materials. The blue box program has expanded in various forms throughout Canada and to countries around the world such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia, serving more than 40 million households around the world.
While Waterloo has benefited from the presence of two universities and a number of high tech companies, Kitchener has been a more blue-collar town. The auto-parts manufacturer Budd Canada, now known as Kitchener Frame, continues to employ over 1500 workers. The city is home to four municipal business parks: the Bridgeport Business Park, Grand River West Business Park, Huron Business Park and Lancaster Corporate Centre. The largest, the Huron Business Park, is home to a number of industries, from seat manufacturers to furniture components. A number of the old industrial companies of Kitchener have fallen on harder times: the Kaufmann shoe manufacturer has closed its factory and companies like Electrohome have ceased local production in favour of licensing or supply agreements with overseas makers. Schneider Foods (a meat producer) has been bought out by Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, but continues operations in Kitchener. According to the 2006 Census, 24.2% of the labour force is employed in the manufacturing sector.
Kitchener's downtown core, though improved in recent years, has experienced urban decay, thanks largely to the decline of industrial jobs in the city and the growth of its suburbs. Things worsened when urban renewal plans in the 1960s cost the city its neo-classical city hall and did not achieve its goals of redevelopment. In the late 1990s, an arsonist began destroying abandoned and underused buildings in Kitchener's downtown, the issue of downtown renewal and cleanup of the adjoining Victoria Park neighbourhood came to the fore in municipal elections and has been the focus of city council for the past ten years. Achievements during this period include selling off a dying mall and converting it to office space for Manulife Financial, a major insurance firm, relocating a theatre downtown, converting the old Goudies department store to a Children's Museum, and converting vacant industrial space into residential units.
The city now boasts a new city hall, which opened in September 1993. Your Kitchener Market, the modern incarnation of its historic farmers market, opened in 2004. Other projects include an assortment of lofts, utilizing old factories and other buildings. Various plans for 20 floor condo units have been put in place. And although Waterloo is home to many insurance companies, two universities, and high-tech industries, Kitchener is hoping to increase demand for office space by building office towers and inviting companies from around the golden triangle to move in.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the University of Waterloo school of pharmacy and downtown health sciences campus was officially held on March 15, 2006. The building will be located on King Street near Victoria Street, across the street from the former Kaufmann shoe factory (now converted to lofts).
Economic and social impacts from the new health sciences campus that are expected to be felt locally include: the potential for more family doctors and other health professionals practicing in the city and region; significant economic benefits associated with an injection of as many as 1,200 students, faculty and staff to the downtown core each day and spin off business and industry that will diversify the economy and bring additional jobs to the area.
The redevelopment of the 'Centre Block' in downtown Kitchener has its vision set and is planned to start sometime in 2008. It will include a 12 story and an 18 story condominium, more retail spaces, the redevelopment of the Mayfair Hotel and a central courtyard.