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Kitchener History, Ontario

In 1784 the land on which the city of Kitchener was located was given as a gift by the British Rule to the famous Six Nations. This gift was to mark the allegiance of Six Nations during the American Revolution. The total area of the land was around 240,000 hectares.

From 1796 to 1798 this group of Six Nations sold around 38,000 hectares to Colonel Richard Beasley a Loyalist of Six Nations. Although its location was very remote it proved to be of great importance in terms of farming for German Mennonites (who were actually Christian Anabaptist) who hailed from Pennsylvania. Another reason for German Mennonites opting for this land was that they wanted an area where they could practice their culture without facing the resentment of various other communities. Hence they bought the whole land that was under the control of Richard Beasley and started over 160 farming tracts.

In 1800 the very first building was built in this area and slowly many families that were relying on farming started to create their homes. They had to travel the tough paths through the so called Sand Hills to reach this destination. In 1807 the Schneiders, a Mennonites family, hit this region and built their home which today is a museum, attracting various locals and tourists. This building is also said to be the oldest existing building of the city. Some more families whose remains are still available in Kitchener are the Weavers, the Erbs, the Ebys, the Bechtels, the Brubachers, the Cressmans. It was in 1816 when the government of Canada named this place as township of Waterloo.

Soon lots of Germans started to enter the city and renamed it Berlin. By 1912 it was officially given the tag of a city. Finally in 1916 the name was changed to Kitchener.

In 1981 the blue box program was started in Kitchener. Due to this program over 90 percent of the houses in Ontario have the recycling programs that help nature by all possible means.