St. Jacobs, Ontario
Encyclopedia
The community of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, just north of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....

 in Woolwich Township
Woolwich, Ontario
The Township of Woolwich is a rural township in Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Region of Waterloo, immediately to the north and east of the City of Waterloo. Its 2006 census population was 19,658.-Communities:*Bloomingdale*Breslau*Conestogo*Elmira...

, Waterloo Region. It is a popular location for tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, due to its Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 heritage and retail focus. The Conestogo River
Conestogo River
The Conestogo River is a river in Waterloo Region in Western Ontario. It joins the Grand River at the town of Conestogo.A dam built on the river for flood control formed Conestoga Lake, which covers an area of about 23 square kilometres. A conservation area operated by the Grand River Conservation...

, which powered the village's original gristmill, runs through the village.

Tourism and business

Three kilometres south of the town centre is the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, another popular tourist draw. Fresh farm products are sold from across the area, plus many vendors have discount clothing, toys, candy, and other wares. A factory outlet mall is located adjacent to the market site. The market, town and surrounding countryside are marketed as St Jacobs Country.

St. Jacobs is also the headquarters of Home Hardware
Home Hardware
Home Hardware is a privately held Canadian home improvement, construction materials, and furniture retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by Walter Hachborn and headquartered in St...

. This national chain of over 1000 independent hardware retail stores located across Canada was founded in the village in 1963.

History

Officially named in 1852, St. Jacobs was first known as "Jakobstettel" which means "Jacob's Village". The St. was added to the name simply to make it sound more pleasing and the pluralization was in honour of the combined efforts of Jacob C. Snider (1791-1865) and his son, Jacob C. Snider Jr. (1822-1857), founders of the Village. The younger Jacob lost his life in the Desjardins Canal
Desjardins Canal
The Desjardins Canal, named after its promoter Pierre Desjardins, was built to give Dundas, Ontario, easier access to Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes system of North America...

 train disaster at age 35.

Trails and recreation

The Millrace Footpath, a recreational trail that forms part of the Trans Canada Trail
Trans Canada Trail
The Trans Canada Trail is a proposed corridor in Canada. The creation of the trail was announced as part of Canada's 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992. It is expected that when complete, it will be the longest recreational trail in the world...

, runs along the Conestogo River
Conestogo River
The Conestogo River is a river in Waterloo Region in Western Ontario. It joins the Grand River at the town of Conestogo.A dam built on the river for flood control formed Conestoga Lake, which covers an area of about 23 square kilometres. A conservation area operated by the Grand River Conservation...

from the Village of St. Jacobs to dam further up the river. The trail offers many scenic views of the river and of the millrace constructed in the 1860's that used to power the village's gristmill. The trail has a length of 2.5 km and can be used year-round.
The village also has an arena and community centre, as well as a newly renovated library built in 1934, thanks to a private donation from Miss Lola Snider. There are also numerous parks and green spaces.

External links

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