Encyclopedia
The
City of Kitchener, formerly the
City of Berlin , in southwestern
Ontario,
Canada, has a population of 209,000. The metropolitan area, which includes the two neighbouring cities of Waterloo and Cambridge, has 490,000 people, making it the tenth largest CMA in Canada and now the fourth largest CMA in Ontario by population. It is the seat of the
Waterloo Regional Municipality, and is adjacent to the smaller cities of Cambridge to the south, and
Waterloo to the north. Kitchener and Waterloo are often referred to jointly as "the
twin cities" or "K-W" , although they have separate municipal governments. The three cities are also known as "the tri-cities".
The City of Kitchener covers an area of 136.86 square kilometres.
In 2004, Kitchener celebrated its 150th anniversary.
The name
Kitchener is pronounced as three syllables ['k?.t??.n?].
History
In 1784, the land on which the City of Kitchener would be established was part of a large tract of more than 2400 square kilometres of land, set aside by the British Crown as a grant to the Six Nations Indians for their loyalty to the Crown during the
American War of Independence. Between 1796 and 1798, the Six Nations Indians led by Joseph Brant, sold off 380 kmē of land to Colonel Richard Beasley, a United Empire Loyalist. While located far inland and isolated from centres of commerce, the land owned by Beasley appealed to a particular group of
Pennsylvania German Mennonite farmers.
Fuelled by the fear that their religious freedoms and exemption from military service under British rule would not be guaranteed following the
American Revolutionary War,
Pennsylvania German Mennonites began to search for new areas of settlement. In the 1790s Mennonites responded to advertisements for
Upper Canada promising inexpensive land and the guarantee of freedom of worship and beliefs. By the 1790s, Mennonites began clearing land on the Ontario side of the Niagara River. It is reported that a small group of Mennonites, members of the Betzner and Sherk families, learned of Richard Beasley's tract of land, and by the end of 1800 the first permanent non-native settlement was established in what is now the City of Kitchener. Soon afterward, a group of Mennonites pooled resources to purchase all of the unsold land from Beasley, forming the German Company Tract and dividing the lands into 128 farms of 181 hectares and 32 farms of 1.2 hectares each for distribution. At the time of the pioneer settlement, Kitchener was a land abundant with dense bush, swamps and sand hills. Streams found throughout the area would become very important in supplying the power for saw and grist mills, in what was still, however, a farm-based economy.
In 1816, the Government of Upper Canada elevated the German Company Tract to the Township of Waterloo. The establishment of the Township also marked the beginning of a steady migration of German- speaking Europeans to the area. The German language of the Mennonites and their tolerance for other religions and cultures attracted many German-speaking immigrants from
Europe particularly from the 1820s to 1870s. Population growth and improvements made to roads helped establish the beginnings of a true urban centre that would become a hamlet named Berlin in 1833, in honour of the settlers' German heritage. In 1853 Berlin would become the County Seat of the newly created County of Waterloo and with that so came the status of Village. Three years later in 1856 the Grand Trunk Railway was extended to Berlin, opening up the area completely to Upper Canada society and to future industrialization.
The increase of German-speaking immigrants from Europe also contributed greatly to Berlin's industrialization. Their skilled trades and industrial knowledge would help lead to a period of rapid growth and prosperity. By the end of the 19th century, Berlin had established itself as a major industrial centre within the Dominion of Canada, boasting furniture factories, tanneries, a foundry and button factories.
On June 9, 1912, Berlin officially became a city and was considered to be Canada's German Capital. However, with the outbreak of the First
World War in 1914 came anti-German sentiment and an internal conflict ensued as the city was forced to confront its cultural distinctiveness. There was pressure for the city to change its name from Berlin, and in 1916 following much debate and controversy, the name of the city was changed to Kitchener, after the British field marshal
Lord Kitchener, who was Secretary of State for War until his death on June 9, 1916 in the mine sinking of HMS Hampshire. Ironically,
Lord Kitchener was responsible for sending many civilians to concentration camps during the Boer War.
The extensive industrialization of Berlin in the 19th century had a significant impact on the urban landscape. Large factories and the homes of industrialists and labourers replaced many of the buildings from Berlin's pioneer era. Kitchener's rapid growth led to a need to plan for the orderly development of the city, and in 1925 the first City Plan was approved. The Adams-Seymour Plan was characterized by a comprehensive zoning by-law establishing distinct residential districts and locating commercial and industrial areas along primary arterial roads. It also contemplated the growth of Kitchener beyond the established 19th century form of Berlin, and significantly influenced how the City would develop in the 20th century.
While Kitchener suffered during the
great depression, the diversification of industry enabled the city to weather the worst years of the Depression era and return to a period of growth as early as 1936. The tension that had marked the City in the First World War did not reappear during World War Two. Kitchener rallied as enthusiastically as its neighbours to the Canadian cause and shared fully in the years of great economic growth in Ontario in the post war years. By 1965, Kitchener had become Canada's fastest growing city and one of the country's leading industrial, financial and distribution centres.
On September 17, 1981, the first ever "blue box"
recycling program was launched in Kitchener. Today, more than 90% of Ontario households have access to recycling programs and annually they divert more than 650,000 tonnes of secondary resource materials. The blue box program has expanded in various forms throughout Canada and to countries around the world such as the
United States,
United Kingdom,
France and
Australia, serving more than 40 million households in countries around the world.
Economy
Whereas
Waterloo has benefited from the presence of two universities and a number of high tech companies, Kitchener has been a more blue-collar town. The auto-parts manufacturer
Budd Canada continues to employ over 1500 workers. The Huron Business Park is also the site of a number of industries, from seat manufacturers to furniture components. A number of the old industrial companies of Kitchener have fallen on harder times: the Kaufmann shoe manufacturer has closed its factory, Schneider Foods has been bought out and operations scaled back, and companies like Electrohome have ceased local production in favour of licensing or supply agreements with overseas makers. Still, occupations unique to manufacturing, processing and utilities cover as much as 15% of the local workforce.
Kitchener's downtown core, though somewhat improved in recent years, has experienced considerable urban decay, thanks largely to the decline of industrial jobs in the city and the growth of its suburbs. Things worsened when urban renewal plans in the 1960s cost the city its neo-classical city hall and did not achieve its goals of redevelopment. When an arsonist began destroying abandoned and underused buildings in Kitchener's downtown, the issue of downtown renewal and cleanup of the adjoining Victoria Park neighbourhood came to the fore in municipal elections and has been the focus of city council for the past ten years. Achievements during this period include selling off a dying mall and converting it to office space for
Manulife Financial, a major insurance firm, relocating a theatre downtown, converting the old Goudies department store to a , and converting vacant industrial space into residential units.
The city now boasts a new
city hall, and a new farmer's market opened in 2004. Other projects include an assortment of lofts, utilizing old factories. Various plans for 20 floor condo units have been put in place. And although Waterloo is home to many insurance companies, two universities, and high-tech industries, Kitchener is hoping to increase demand for office space by building office towers and inviting companies from around the golden triangle to move in.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the
University of Waterloo school of pharmacy and downtown health sciences campus was officially held on March 15, 2006.
Economic and social impacts from the new health sciences campus that are expected to be felt locally include: the potential for more family doctors and other health professionals practicing in the city and region; significant economic benefits associated with an injection of as many as 1,200 students, faculty and staff to the downtown core each day and spin off business and industry that will diversify the economy and bring additional jobs to the area.
Demographics
| Ethnic Origin | Population | Percent |
|---|
| Canadian | 129,045 | 31.49% |
| English | 103,130 | 25.16% |
| German | 93,325 | 22.77% |
| Scottish | 71,205 | 17.37% |
| Irish | 67,030 | 16.35% |
| French | 36,985 | 9.02% |
| Polish | 18,420 | 4.49% |
| Portuguese | 17,220 | 4.20% |
| Dutch | 16,735 | 4.08% |
| Italian | 11,370 | 2.77% |
According to the May 2001 census, the population of the Greater Kitchener Area was 414,284, of whom 190,339 lived in the city of Kitchener. 49.2% of the population was male and 50.8% was female. However, the region release it's own census in 2005, counting the population at roughly 209'000, and the region over 500'000 making it the 10th largest metropolitan area in Canada.
Children under five accounted for approximately 6.3% of the resident population of Kitchener, compared to 5.8% in Ontario, and 5.6% for Canada overall. Some 11.2% of the resident population in Kitchener was of retirement age, compared with 13.2% in Canada. The average age was 35.3 years, compared to the 37.6-year national average. In the five years between 1996 and 2001, the population of Kitchener grew by 8.2% compared with an increase of 6.1% for Ontario as a whole. Population density of Kitchener averaged 501.0 people per square kilometre. Approximately 10 percent of the population claimed to be members of a visible minority, and are primarily people of
Asian , Black
Caribbean: 1.79%, including
mixed race,
Chinese, Arab and others.
Christianity continues to have the greatest number of adherents. From the 2001 census, 78.85% of the population adhered to various Christian denominations. Due to the higher concentrations of German Canadians, Protestantism has a greater percentage , followed by
Roman Catholic , while the remaining 5.07% follow other Christian groups such as
Eastern Orthodox,
LDS,
Jehovah's Witness etc. Minor religions include
Islam: 2.24%,
Hindu: 1.00%, and other including
Judaism,
Sikh, and
Buddhism.
Government
Kitchener is governed by a council of six councillors, representing wards , and a mayor. Kitchener residents also elect four councillors at large to sit with the mayor on the council of the
Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The current mayor of Kitchener is Carl Zehr, who was re-elected handily to his third term in November 2003, after first being elected in 1997 and reelected in 2000. Before that, he sat as a municipal councillor from 1985-1994.
In 1976, residents of Kitchener voted almost 2:1 in favour of a ward system. The first municipal election held under the ward system occurred in 1978.
The City Councillors, plus the Mayor, make up the entire City of Kitchener Council. Council is responsible for policy and decision making, monitoring the operation and performance of the city, analyzing and approving budgets and determining spending priorities. The residents of each ward vote for one person to be their City Councillor; their voice and representative on City Council.
The current Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener Centre is John Milloy and the Member of Parliament is Karen Redman. Gerry Martinuik, Elizabeth Witmer, and Ted Arnott are also MPP's who have ridings that have parts of Kitchener in them.
Education
The Doon neighbourhood, formerly a separate village but now part of Kitchener, is home to the primary campus of
Conestoga College, one of the foremost non-university educational institutions in the province.
For eight consecutive years, Conestoga has earned top overall ranking among Ontario colleges on the Key Performance Indicator surveys, which measure graduate employment rates and satisfaction levels, and employer and student satisfaction.
Renovations have begun on the former St. Jerome's High School in downtown Kitchener, in preparation for the Faculty of Social Work from
Wilfrid Laurier University.
The
University of Waterloo is investigating opening a School of Pharmacy in the downtown area. The City of Kitchener has contributed $30 million from its $110 million Economic Development Investment Fund, established in 2004, to the establishment of the UW Downtown Kitchener School of Pharmacy. As of January 2006 there is no formal commitment to the creation of the school from either the University of Waterloo or the provincial government, but most local politicians and journalists ignore this.
The school is expected to graduate about 120 pharmacists annually and will become the home of the Centre for Family Medicine, where new family physicians will be trained, as well as an optometry clinic and the International Pharmacy Graduate Program. Construction on the $147 million facility - expected to create an influx of 1,200 staff and faculty into the city's core - is slated to be complete as early as the summer of 2007.
The provincial government has also announced that the University of Waterloo's Downtown Kitchener Campus will be the site of a new satellite campus of
McMaster University's School of Medicine. This is expected to train 12 doctors a year, primarily through distance learning.
The training of medical professionals in downtown Kitchener include developments such as:
- In 2007, the UW School of Pharmacy about to begin admitting 120 pharmaceutical students each year.
- Eventually, the UW School of Pharmacy campus will evolve to become the UW Health Sciences Campus, offering more programs and with a daily population of more than 1,200 students, faculty and staff.
- There are plans for an Integrated Primary Health Care Centre on the UW site that will provide as many as 12 more family physicians locally, as well as training for many more medical doctors.
- The Centre for Family Medicine, which is already up and running in the former Victoria School Centre in downtown Kitchener, is slated to move to the UW campus sometime after it opens. Currently, there are six practicing family physicians in the centre and plans are to boost that number to as many as 14 family physicians.
- New physicians trained either at the new Integrated Primary Health Care Centre or the Centre for Family Medicine will learn in and create holistic health care models of the future.
- In September 2006, the Wilfrid Laurier Faculty of Social Work will open in the former St. Jerome's High School building on Duke Street adding yet another dimension to the "health care" theme in downtown Kitchener.
Health Care in Kitchener
Kitchener-Waterloo is served by two hospitals, Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital. Grand River treats patients with a wide range of problems and houses the psychiatric unit, trauma centre, women's and children's services, and the Regional Cancer Care Centre. St Mary's houses the Regional Cardiac Care Centre, serving a population of nearly one million from Waterloo Region, east to Guelph, north to Owen Sound/Tobermory, south to Lake Erie and west to Ingersoll. It also houses a respiratory centre. Both hospitals have emergency departments and intensive care units.
Long term care and rehabilitation is catered for at the Freeport Health Centre, at the south of the city. The site of the old sanatorium, it nestles along the banks of the Grand River, and is part of Grand River Hospital.
Family doctors are in short supply in K-W, and a source of great concern among residents. The Chamber of Commerce runs a waiting list for people looking for a doctor, but as of 2006 the wait is over two years. Two urgent care centres cater for much of the routine services for thousands of people without a family doctor, from routine immunisations and health screening, to repeat prescriptions and referral on to specialist services. A third urgent care centre is being added to a renovated supermarket development in the desirable Forest Heights area of the city.
Announced January 2006 was the inauguration of a new School of Medicine attached to the
University of Waterloo. From 2007 15 new family doctors will be trained each year in new premises being constructed in the downtown core.
City issues
Crime
Despite having one of the lowest crime rates in Canada, Kitchener has had a rapid increase in crime over the past two years. Violent crimes such as robberies and sexual assaults have gone up 20% since 2003. Drug crime has also gone up, in relation to robberies. However, the drug crimes tend to be related to less serious drugs such as marijuana. Cocaine and crack are on the rise as well, but have not increased much in recent years. In 2004, there was a +5 increase in murders compared to earlier years. The rise in crime is most likely a result of the rapid increase in population.
Occurrences of illegal gun possession are increasing as well. While the majority of the firearms make their way up to
Toronto, illegal guns are being seen in London, Hamilton and Kitchener. Of the suddenly increasing number of robberies, many are carried out with guns, although knives and
BB guns tend to be more common.
Gangs are on the rise aswell. Newly formed local gangs such as
Kitchener Boys,
Benton Avenue Slingers and the
Knight Ryder Crew are on the streets. Most of these gang activities involve Drug-Dealing and Robberies. The Mayor of Kitchener states that the gangs of Kitchener don't really pose a threat or any harm to the citizens of the city. The city also has its share of more international known street gangs and organized crime rings such as the
Crips,
Bloods,
Latin Kings,
Triads and the
Russian Mafia. The city and region are also well known for its presence of biker gangs and small racist skinhead groups.
Homelessness
Unlike bigger cities in Ontario, Kitchener has a rather low number of homeless people. Only a few hundred people are classified as homeless. The city is constantly setting up shelters and investing millions in constructing homes and drop-in centres for the homeless. Unfortunately, most shelters used are "unofficial" abandoned or extremely decayed buildings. Many prefer to sleep on benches and in doorways downtown for moral reasons. Drug use and drug dealing are quite frequent at many of the shelters.
Poverty
In total, Waterloo Region is home to nearly 50,000 people who live below the poverty line. Many services are provided to tend to the problem, such as food drives, clothing drives, and labour. Despite the high number of those living below poverty, most have jobs, as Kitchener has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada.
Heritage Conservation
In 2006, the Heritage Canada Foundation listed Kitchener's demolition of the historic Forsyth Factory as the worst heritage loss of the last year. This designation was partly because of the importance of the building, which was officially designated as a protected property in 1999, but also because of the city's refusal to take responsibility for maintaining the building.
In 2001 the city of Kitchener bought the Forsyth shirt Factory building for nearly $1 million. Since then Kitchener Council has done virtually no maintenance of any sort on the building, including repeatedly voting to not fix leaks in the roof. As a result of several years of water damage, a city inspection on January 9, 2006 determined that the building had developed structural problems and recommended demolition for public safety. On January 14, demolition started. Many residents questioned the report, since a similar report commissioned by the city just a few months prior indicated no structural problems and suggested that the best and least expensive option for redevelopment was to repair the extensive water damage and to convert the building to lower floor commercial, and upper floor residential uses, as was done successfully with the Kaufman factory. Exterior examination by citizens' groups indicated no dangerous structural problems, but the city refused to allow anyone access to the property to do a more detailed analysis. The safety of the building was a key consideration since public safety is one of the few reasons that a property with a provincial heritage designation can be demolished.
Part of the issue is that the Forsyth building is on what should be prime downtown Kitchener real estate, yet the block is not well developed. The city's plan was to construct a library on this piece of land as the other branch located downtown was old and obsolete. The idea was that part of the factory could be included in a new building, however, it was ultimately demolished. Public opposition to the demolition had a substantial effect on the future of the block. Since taking ownership of the building, Kitchener has also rejected several proposals from developers and community organizations for ways of using the property. In 2004 Kitchener held public meetings to determine what people wanted to be done with the block. In 2006, due to the opposition from the public regarding the library, and the need for parking, the city agreed to contruct a temporary parking lot until the council decides what to do.
Because the factory was actually three connected buildings, even with the structural report, the city could only demolish the largest building, the other two are still standing, although with missing walls. As of March 2006, the city of Kitchener has not protected the remain buildings from water and is arguing that they are no longer safe.
When discussing the Forsyth building, many residents compare it to the similar destruction of the old Kitchener city hall in 1973.
Culture
Kitchener boasts a wealth of cultural activities. Some cultural highlights include
CAFKA, The Open Ears Festival, Multicultural Festival, and Blues, Brews & Barbeques, all of which are free to the public. Kitchener is also home to world-class venues such as the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, The Centre in the Square, and Theatre & Company. Live music by world-renowned artists can be heard at venues such as the Centre in the Square, The Aud, The Lyric, and Stages.
Oktoberfest
Main article: Kitchener-Waterloo OktoberfestKitchener's
Oktoberfest celebration is an annual nine-day event. Based on the original
German Oktoberfest, it is billed as
Canada's Great Bavarian Festival. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian
Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after.
While its best-known draws are the
beer-based celebrations, other cultural and entertainment attractions also fill the week. The best-known is the
parade held on Thanksgiving Day; as the only major parade on Canadian Thanksgiving, it is
televised nationally.
Another icon of the festival is Miss Oktoberfest. This position was formerly selected in a televised beauty pageant, the applicant coming from across
North America. The position is now selected by a closed committee of judges from a panel of local applicants; community involvement and personal character form the main criteria under the new system. A ribald spin-off of the Miss Oktoberfest pageant is celebrated in some local high schools, in which all participants are male, but dressed as women.
CAFKA
Main article: CAFKAThe Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area is a non-profit organization that holds a biennial international arts festival in downtown Kitchener. It brings cutting-edge works out of art galleries, studios and artist-run centers and places them in public spaces. Art installations have traditionally been located in and around Kitchener City Hall. CAFKA events are always free of charge to the public.
City parks and trails
Kitchener's largest and most famous outdoor park is Victoria Park, in the heart of downtown Kitchener. Numerous events and festivities are held in this park.
A statue of
Queen Victoria is located in Victoria Park. In an effort to display loyalty to the queen, the statue was placed in the park, after the city's name was changed to Kitchener.
The city has announced the construction of a new Gaukel Street entrance to Victoria Park. Gaukel Street is to be used as a corridor linking Victoria Park to
City Hall. The new entrance will include a complete streetscape upgrade on Gaukel Street with new lighting, stamped concrete, and other features. The new entrance to the park itself will include stone masonry gates, walkways, new lighting, flower gardens, a pond complete with waterfalls, and a sculpture created by a local artist.
Kitchener has an extensive community trail system. The trails, which are controlled and run by the city, are hundreds of kilometers in length, and are well-maintained and safe.
Due to Kitchener's close proximity to the Grand River, several community trails and paths border the river's shores. The convenient access to the Grand River has drawn nature-seeking tourists to the city.
Transport
Highways and expressways
There is an interchange with
Highway 401 on Kitchener's southern border, and Highways 7 and 8 and the
Conestoga Parkway run through the city and connect it to the 401 and to
Waterloo. In order to reduce the congestion on Highway 8, a new interchange has been proposed at Trussler Road, which would serve the rapidly growing west side of Kitchener. Although this proposal is supported by the Region of Waterloo, the MTO has no plans to date to proceed with an interchange at Trussler Road.
City streets
Unlike many southern Ontario cities whose streets follow a strict grid pattern, Kitchener's streets are laid out in a complex, disorderly fashion; few follow any particular arrangement, and nearly all converge on main roads. A notable quirk of the city involves King Street and Weber Street, two main north-south arteries which cross at three points, despite running parallel.
Historically, attempts to simplify the street system have met limited success. With the influx of soldiers returning from service in
World War II, the region was threatened with a housing crisis; seeing this as an opportunity to improve road layouts, the city constructed new neighborhoods in a grid pattern. The project was largely unsuccessful, however, and with the exception of a few isolated areas, road layouts remain complex to this day.
More recently, expansions of many high-traffic roads, such as Fairway Road, River Road, and Manitou Drive, have been proposed to deal with the rapid expansion of the suburban areas.
Public transport
Since 2000, public transport throughout the
Region of Waterloo has been provided by
Grand River Transit, which was created by a merger of the former
Cambridge Transit and
Kitchener Transit. GRT operate a number of bus routes in Kitchener, with many running into
Waterloo and two connecting to Cambridge. In September 2005, GRT added an
express bus route called
iXpress from downtown Cambridge through Kitchener to north Waterloo.
Recently, proposals have been put forth regarding a rapid transit system serving the downtown cores of all three cities. The region currently favors a
light rail transit system, though it is considering alternatives such as improved bus service or a
monorail.
Railways
Passenger service is provided by
VIA Rail. Three trains in each direction travelling between
Sarnia and
Toronto stop at the
Kitchener railway station daily. The station is slightly to the northeast of the city's downtown on Weber Street near its intersection with Victoria Street.
GO Transit do not serve Kitchener; their railway station most easily accessible from the city is Milton station. City councillors and public petitions have called for the extension of GO trains to the Region of Waterloo, but at present GO do not plan to go beyond already-announced bus links.
Freight trains in Kitchener are operated by the
Goderich-Exeter Railway and the
Canadian Pacific Railway. These railways serve several customers , many of which are located in industrial parks in southern Kitchener.
Air
The closest airport to Kitchener is the Region of Waterloo International Airport in nearby Breslau, but while it is a thriving
general-aviation field, it is not heavily-served by scheduled airlines. Most air travellers use either Toronto's
Lester B. Pearson International Airport or
Hamilton's John C. Munro International Airport. Although there are no permanent public transport links from Kitchener to any of these airports, Northwest Airlines has three flights daily to Detroit's Wayne County Metropolitan Airport. Mesaba Airlines, using Saab 340 twin prop aircraft, is the regional carrier affiliated with Northwest and operates under the name Northwest Airlink. During the winter vacation period Dec. 2005 to March 2006 there are also flights to Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, using Airbus 320 Aircraft. Recent upgrades to the runways and terminal building are permitting larger aircraft, such as the Airbus, to use this airport. Air Canada has been in talks with the Region with an eye on starting flights to Ottawa and Montreal
Local media
Radio
- CKKW-AM 1090 AM
- CBLA-FM-2 CBC Radio One 89.1
- CBLA-FM-2 CBC Radio Two 90.7
- CJTW-FM 94.3 Faith FM
- CKBT-FM 95.1 FM
- CHYM-FM 96.7 FM
- CKWR-FM 98.5 FM
- CKMS-FM 100.3 FM
- CFCA-FM 105.3 FM
- CJDV-FM DAVE FM 107.5
91.5 The Beat
Television
Newspapers
Neighbourhoods
Kitchener has many neighbourhoods, however only the main ones are recognized.
- Forest/Rockway
- Victoria Park
- Fairview/Gateway
- Chicopee/Grand River
- Bridgeport
- South Ward
- Stanley Park
- Doon/Brigadoon
Forest Heights and Downtown-core are considered neighbourhoods, but officially, only eight main wards are recognized.
Each of the larger main neighbourhoods has its own mall named after the area. Two notable examples are Stanley Park Mall, and Fairview Park Mall, the latter of which has just begun a $35,000,000 upgrade. New features will include additional stores, a larger food court and an upgraded dock/receiving area.
Sports teams/leagues
- Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League who play at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex
- Kitchener Panthers of the Intercounty Baseball League who play at Jack Couch Park
- of the Ontario Hockey Association who play at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex
- of the Ontario Lacrosse Association who play at the Waterloo Rec Centre.
- contains 12 teams and plays at Budd Park
- which helps thousands of children play recreational and house league hockey
Famous people
- Raffi Armenian, conductor, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony
- Don Beaupre, retired NHL ice hockey player
- Todd Bertuzzi, NHL ice hockey player, though a native of Sudbury, Ontario, lives in Kitchener
- Mel Brown, blues musician
- Christopher Chalmers, freestyle swimmer
- John Robert Columbo
- Gary Cowan, golfer
- Tim Deegan, winner of the 2006 MuchMusic
network_logo = * Finland [i] — Jyrki [i] a based segment which airs on Alma Media [i] ...
VJ Search competition
- Woody Dumart, NHL ice hockey player, who with Milt Schmidt and Bobby Bauer made up the Boston Bruins famous Kraut line
- Wayne Erdman, 7th Dan Judo at Olympia Judo Club - Judo Canada Hall of Fame & Five time Senior National Champion & Pan American 1974 & 1975 Gold
- Helix, a popular heavy metal band
- Jill Hennessy, actress, Law & Order , Crossing Jordan is an American [i] television crime/drama series that airs on NBC [i] ...
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's tenth, and longest serving, prime minister
- Merrick Jarrett, folk singer,
- Lennox Lewis, retired boxer, grew up in Kitchener and still owns a house in the city.
- Ross Macdonald, pseudonym for Kenneth Millar, author, mystery writer, creator of Lew Archer
- Danny Michel, musician
- Shannon Lyon, musician
- Scott Manning, stunt pilot and former professional Canadian football player .
- Margaret Millar, author, mystery writer, wife of Ross Macdonald
- David Morrell, award winning author, creator of Rambo
- Moe Norman, golfer
- Carl Arthur Pollock, industrialist, Electrohome Ltd
- Jeremy Ratchford, actor, Cold Case Files
- Jason Reso, professional wrestler
- Frank J. Selke, NHL manager
- Milt Schmidt, NHL ice hockey player, who with Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer comprised the Boston Bruins Kraut line
- Dave Sim, creator of the comic book Cerebus the Aardvark is an independent comic book [i], written and illustrated by ...
- Darryl Sittler
...
, retired
NHL ice hockey player
- Scott Stevens, retired NHL ice hockey player
- Karen Redman, Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons
- Paul Reinhart, retired NHL ice hockey player
- Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP member of the Canadian House of Commons
- Homer Watson, landscape artist
- Mike West, backstroke swimmer
- Dave Farrow, guinness world record holder for memory
- Dawud Wharnsby Ali, singer-songwriter, poet, performer and television personality
- Walter P. Zeller, the founder of Canada's largest discount department store chain, Zellers, was born near the city
References
See also
External links
