Farming

Queen’s Bush: We marched right into the wilderness

About 25 years after Pennsylvania Mennonites arrived, another group of US emigrants started a new life in what would be Waterloo Region. They—freemen and runaway slaves—founded settlements on undeveloped lands in Colbornesburg and later in Queen’s Bush. By the 1840s, the Queen’s Bush Settlement’s population was approximately 2000, of whom approximately 1500 were black. This […] Read more…

25-31 August 1916: The Bread Police

Kitchener will come in quiet The city would inaugurate its new name in silence. The aldermen held a special meeting to discuss the momentous day. Alderman Cleghorn introduced a resolution that declared the city fathers were “of the opinion that no greater tribute could be paid by the residents of this city to the memory of the […] Read more…

04-10 August 1916: Two years of war

4 August 1916: Two years of war If you asked most people two summers earlier, many wouldn’t believe the war would last longer than six months. Experts poo-pooed the idea: all the numbers pointed to bankruptcy for any nation that embarked in an extended conflict. If the main players foresaw years of fighting, they might […] Read more…

07-14 July 1916: We’ve got the beets

Leaving Carling Heights. Arriving at Camp Borden. Moving to the big camp near Barrie, Ontario loomed heavy over soldiers’ heads.  After four countermands, the 118th Battalion received their orders to pack and board the train to Camp Borden. “Huronto,” The Berlin News-Record’s special correspondent told readers after the boys packed everything up, they “lay around […] Read more…

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14-20 Apr 1916: A victory, of sorts

Playing around with prohibition Legislators added and refined clauses as they continued to debate the merits of Premier Hearst’s prohibition bill. Every municipality would have at least one licensed hotel (“standard hotels”), and boarding houses could bill themselves as such. For an annual licensing fee of $1 (just less than $20—see notes on conversion), these […] Read more…