Homer Watson House · Photo: Matt Deres · CC BY-SA 3.0
8historic places on the registers
History of Kitchener · Canada’s heritage registers
8 historic places in Kitchener, 4 of them top designations
The list takes in 2 provincial or municipal listings, a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. Joseph Schneider Haus, begun in 1816, is the oldest by its record. There are also 26 listings on provincial or municipal registers with no open description, so no pages.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
The past of Kitchener, 1880 to 1929
By date: 7 old photographs of the town, with the oldest view of one of its historic places. Tap any picture to see it full screen.
1875190019251950Confederation to 1900Boom yearsThe wars and betweenAfter the war
Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
How it began
Milestones of Kitchener since 1833
By 1897 the place had a station: Kitchener railway station. Its record also notes Berlin to Kitchener name change (1916). As a municipality, Kitchener carries the date 1833 on Wikidata: a founding, an incorporation or an amalgamation.
The name of Kitchener honours Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener. Before 1916, Kitchener went by Berlin.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Tap any dot to open that place’s own page; hovering shows its name.
The 8, by tier
4 Highest designations2 Other federal designations2 Provincial and local listings
Most entries are federal, from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations; local listings outside Québec are known only through Wikidata items with an article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
4 places in Kitchener with the highest designation
The first was designated in 1952, the latest in 1999. They are 3 National Historic Sites and a Classified Federal Heritage Building. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Their dates run from 1897, with “Former Canadian National Railways (VIA Rail) Station, Kitchener, Ontario”, to 1937. They are a Recognized Federal Heritage Building and a heritage railway station. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Houses and theatres, museums and memorials share the lead in Kitchener, 2 each
Two of the highest-ranked are Joseph Schneider Haus and Homer Watson House. All told, 6 kinds of place appear.
Houses2
Theatres, museums and memorials2
Stations, lighthouses and bridges1
Mills, shops and works1
Public buildings1
Other places1
Grouped by what each register says the place is or was; a converted building counts as what it was built for.
Provincial and local listings
On provincial and local lists in Kitchener: 2 places
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Their dates run from 1853, with Waterloo County Gaol, to 1893. Each one opens its own page.
Most of Kitchener’s dated places come from the years before Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18664
After Confederation 1867–19132
Wars and Depression 1914–19452
Since 1946 1946 on0
4 of the 8 dated places were built before Confederation.
Homes by age
Kitchener is still building: 7.8% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
The largest single period is from 1961 to 1980, with 30% of Kitchener’s homes. 19% of Kitchener’s homes predate 1961, close to the typical town’s 18%. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 20% of Kitchener’s, against 15% in the typical town.
19%
Before 1961
30%
1961–80
23%
1981–2000
20%
2001–15
7.8%
2016–21
KitchenerTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
3 of Canada’s national historic persons, tied to Kitchener
The first on the line is Jacob Gaukel Stroh (1848). There are 26 people born here before 1914 with an article to show for it. 50 Wikipedias cover William Lyon Mackenzie King, the most of anyone here. At the other end is Kieth Hymmen, from 1913. The 20 best known are on the timeline.
Jacob Gaukel Stroh
Homer Watson
John Metz Schneider
Archibald MacMechan
William Lyon Mackenzie King
Jack Gibson
Oliver Seibert
George Cochrane
Norman Schneider
Louis Orville Breithaupt
Frank J. Selke
Harry Meeking
George Rumpel
Werner Schnarr
Lloyd Gross
Walter Zinn
Edna Staebler
Ehrhardt Heller
Earl Seibert
Kieth Hymmen
1800182518501875190019251950
William Lyon Mackenzie King1874–1950 · On Canada’s list since 1968 · 10th Prime Minister of Canada
WZ
Walter Zinn1906–2000 · Nuclear physicist
Homer Watson1855–1936 · Person of national historic significance (1939) · Painter
Oliver Seibert1881–1944 · Canadian ice hockey player
Harry Meeking1894–1971 · Canadian ice hockey player
ES
Earl Seibert1911–1990 · Canadian ice hockey player
Frank J. Selke1893–1985 · Canadian ice hockey manager
ES
Edna Staebler1906–2006 · Canadian writer
Everyone born in Kitchener → Born before 1914. Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against Wikipedia; national historic persons from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, matched by name and life years.
Older stock first: 19% of homes in Kitchener were standing by 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Together that makes 8 historic places, 4 with the highest designation, led by Joseph Schneider Haus. Most of its dated places come from the years before Confederation: 4 of 8. Among the lives from its past: William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874), Walter Zinn (1906) and Homer Watson (1855). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: the designations ran from 1952 to 1999.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
•
Provincial and municipal lists. Provincial and municipal listings here come from Wikidata alone, since the provinces’ own registers can’t be reused; a listing needs an encyclopedia article to get a page.
•
Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
•
The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
•
Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
•
The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
•
The federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
Questions about Kitchener’s history
Which places in Kitchener have the highest designation?
They are Joseph Schneider Haus, Homer Watson House, Woodside and Waterloo Pioneer Memorial Tower.
What is the oldest building in Kitchener?
Joseph Schneider Haus, a National Historic Site, begun in 1816.
Why might a heritage building in Kitchener be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 26 more listings in Kitchener are known through Wikidata alone, so they are counted, not paged.
How old are the homes in Kitchener?
The 2021 Census dates 19% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
c. 1880
1899
1908
1910s
1910
c. 1911
1914
c. 1929
Top
Top
Top
Top
Fed
Fed
Local
Local
