page_title: Kitchener, Ontario
section_title: After 1850
hierarchical_section_title: Kitchener, Ontario / History / After 1850
caption_attribution_description: English: Waterloo County Jail and Governor's House
context_page_description: Kitchener is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario. Located approximately 100 km west of Toronto, Kitchener is the regional seat. Kitchener was called Berlin until 1916; it was designated the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916.
  The City of Kitchener covers an area of 136.86 square kilometres and had a population of 233,222 at the time of the 2016 Census. The Kitchener metropolitan area, which includes the smaller, neighbouring cities of Waterloo to the north and Cambridge to the south, has 523,894 people, making it the tenth largest Census Metropolitan Area in Canada and the fourth largest CMA in Ontario.
  Kitchener and Waterloo are considered "twin cities" which are often referred to jointly as "Kitchener–Waterloo", although they have separate municipal governments. Including Cambridge, the three cities are known as "the Tri-Cities". All are part of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, which was created in 1973, when it replaced Waterloo County, which had been created in 1853.
context_section_description: Previously part of the United County of Waterloo, Wellington and Grey, Waterloo became a separate entity in 1853 with Berlin as county seat. There had been some contentious debate between Galt and Berlin as to where the seat would be located; one of the requirements for founding was the construction of a courthouse and jail. When local merchant Joseph Gaukel donated a small parcel of land he owned (at the current Queen and Weber streets), this sealed the deal for Berlin which was still a small community compared to Galt. The courthouse at the corner of the later Queen Street North and Weber Street and the gaol were built within a few months. The first County council meeting was held in the new facility on 24 January 1853, as the county officially began operations.
  The Waterloo County Gaol is the oldest government building in the Region of Waterloo. The Governor's House, home of the "gaoler", in a mid-Victorian Italian Villa style, was added in 1878. Both have been extensively restored and are on Canadian Register of Historic Places.
  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.  Immigrants from Germany, mostly Lutheran and Catholic, dominated the city after 1850 and developed their own newer German celebrations, and influences, such as the Turner societies, gymnastics, and band music.
  A new streetcar system, the Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway (later called the Grand River Railway) began to operate in 1894 connecting Preston and Galt. In 1911, the line reached Hespeler, Berlin and Waterloo. The electric rail system ended passenger services in April, 1955.
  In 1869, Berlin had a population of 3000. On 9 June 1912, Berlin was designated a city. It was renamed Kitchener in 1916, after Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British Empire Field Marshal killed during the First World War.
  Kitchener was the first city in Ontario to get hydroelectric power in long-distance transmission lines from Niagara Falls, on October 11, 1910.
  Because citizens with a German heritage were viewed as a threat by some in Canada during the First World War, many in the city, particularly its business people, feared a backlash against the name Berlin. A 2016 news report summarized the situation as "some questioned the loyalty of a city with strong German roots, and business leaders worried about a potential boycott of goods stamped Made in Berlin". A referendum was held on 19 May 1916 as to whether the city name should be changed. That passed with a small majority and another referendum led to the name change from Berlin to Kitchener, effective on 1 September 1916.
caption: Waterloo County Jail and Governor's House, Kitchener, built 1852
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