Back in the Spring, I was asked to be a champion. Now, before you ask, no this isn’t some scripted thing that blurs the line between sports and entertainment. I was asked to be a champion. Of a book. To read, understand, and passionately defend at Waterloo Reads: Battle of the Books (Canada 150 edition). […] Read more…
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…
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…
23-29 June 1916: The people have spoken
The long, slow vote to a new name It seems any worries about a mad stampede of passionate voters to the referendum poll were for nought. To avoid a one-day rush, organisers decided the polling station (yes, singular) would be open from 9 am to 9 pm for four days (from 24-28 June (but […] Read more…
16-22 June 1916: Woah, woah, woe! Waterloo
SOS A severe storm passed over the northern part of the County just before suppertime on 15 June. The next day, The Berlin Daily Telegraph’s front-page story, “Cyclone sweeps over Elmira,” described the swath cut through the small town. No one was injured, but shortly after the winds picked up, “it developed into a […] Read more…
02-08 June 1916: Welcome to Hurontobercanadunardrenomaagnoleohydro City
George Rumpel (10 May 1850 – 05 June 1916) “He remained warm-hearted, fair and diplomatic. His employees liked him for this and because wealth did not deprive him of his genial, companionable attribute. Without ostentation, he was considerate of and helpful to those in unfortunate circumstances.” Berliners were rocked by the sudden death of former […] Read more…