page_title: Waterloo County, Ontario
section_title: German heritage
hierarchical_section_title: Waterloo County, Ontario / German heritage
context_page_description: Waterloo County, created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973, was the forerunner of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Situated on a subset of land within the Haldimand Tract, the traditional territory of the Attawandaron, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples, Waterloo County consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries. The major population centres were Waterloo, Kitchener, Preston, Hespeler, Blair, and Doon in Waterloo township; Galt in North Dumfries; Elmira in Woolwich; and New Hamburg in Wilmot. All are now part of the Regional Municipality.
context_section_description: While German-speaking settlers from Pennsylvania were the most numerous until about 1840, a few Germans from Europe began arriving in as 1819, including Fredrick Gaukel, a hotel keeper, being one of the 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.
  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). (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 Germanics were able to understand each other quite easily and there was no apparent conflict between the Germans from Europe and those who came from Pennsylvania.
  Some sources estimate that roughly 50,000 Germans directly from Europe settled in a large area of Southern Ontario, in and around Waterloo County, between the 1830s and 1850s. Unlike the predominantly Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania, the majority of Germans from Europe were of other denominations: most in the first groups were Catholic and those who arrived later were primarily Lutheran.
  In 1862, German-speaking groups held The Sängerfest, or "Singer Festival" concert event that attracted an estimated 10,000 people and continued for several years. 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. 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.)
  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). 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.
  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 res
caption: The Oktoberfest Timeteller, a traditional display in Waterloo
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