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 JOSEPH SCHNEIDER HOUSE - Kitchener, Ontario Posted by:  Jake39
N 43° 26.669 W 080° 29.686
17T E 540882 N 4810299
This 'Homestead' of the Joseph Schneider family is located on Queen. St in the city of Kitchener.
Waymark Code: WMEVZ
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 06/14/2006
Views: 129
A "Visual Past" link can be found here.
Joseph Schneider, his wife Barbara and their four children arrived in what is now Waterloo Region in 1807. They were among a small group of rugged pioneers who trekked to the new frontier from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in search of arable farmland. They found what they sought but they also found an intimidating landscape of uncleared bush, swampland and sandhills.
Bolstered by their Mennonite religion and assisted by their closely-knit brotherhood, these hardy settlers adapted quickly to their new life. By 1816 Joseph Schneider had erected a sawmill and substantial Georgian-style wood-frame home for his family. He had cleared a road, Schneider's Road, that linked his farm to the Great Road through the German Company Tract and had completed his family with three more children. One of these, a twin, Joseph Eby Schneider, eventually took over the operation of the farm and mill and by the mid 1850's had a thriving enterprise and growing family. It is the life of this second Schneider family that plays itself out in the restored historic house today.
Much has changed since the 1850's. Schneider's original 448 acre farm has shrunk to less than an acre, Victoria Park occupies the land where the sawmill once stood and Schneider's Road is now Queen Street. Even the town of Berlin has been renamed Kitchener. But the house that Joseph built still stands beside the creek (now underground) and the farm kitchen still hums with activity throughout the changing seasons.
The Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation secured this important building for the community. Restoration was begun in the fall of 1979 and within eighteen months the house and adjoining wash house had been transformed into a living history museum and modern support wing.
Lots of free parking at:
43° 26.663
80° 29.668
across the street where you will also find period gardens planted by neighbourhood families and volunteers.
Image of Provincial Plaque
Classification: Administered Site
Province or Territory: Ontario
Location - City name/Town name: KITCHENER
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: Not listed
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