Waterloo, a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, is a vibrant blend of history and modernity. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, situated about 94 km west-southwest of Toronto. Often referred to as "Kitchener–Waterloo", "K-W", or "The Twin Cities" due to its close proximity to the city of Kitchener, Waterloo remains an independent city with a population of 121,436 as of the 2021 census.
The area now known as Waterloo was once home to Indigenous peoples such as the Iroquois, Anishinaabe, and Chonnonton. After the American Revolution, Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant sought a tract of land surrounding the Grand River from Frederick Haldimand in return for their loyalty to the British. This led to the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation, which granted the land "six miles deep from either side of the [Grand River] beginning at Lake Erie and extending in that proportion to the very head of the said river."
In 1796, Richard Beasley purchased a large portion of this land, known as Block Number 2, from Joseph Brant. To meet his mortgage obligations, Beasley sold portions of the land to settlers, including Mennonites from Pennsylvania. These settlers formed the first wave of immigrants to the area, purchasing over 14,000 acres from Beasley in the year 1800 alone.
The Mennonites divided the land into smaller lots, with two lots owned by Abraham Erb becoming the central core of Waterloo. Erb, often called the founder of the Village of Waterloo, established a sawmill in 1808 and a grist mill in 1816. Other early settlers included Samuel and Elia Schneider, who arrived in 1816. The first school in what is now the City of Waterloo was built on land donated by Erb in 1820.
In 1816, the new Waterloo Township was officially incorporated and named after Waterloo, Belgium, the site of the Battle of Waterloo (1815). After that war, the new township became a popular destination for German immigrants. By the 1840s, German settlers had overtaken the Mennonites as the dominant segment of the population. Waterloo was incorporated as a village in 1857 and became the Town of Waterloo in 1876.
Waterloo was incorporated as the City of Waterloo in 1948. The presence of the University of Waterloo in the city led to the establishment of numerous technological and innovative companies, including Research in Motion (now BlackBerry Limited). In June 2011, the Waterloo Region council approved the Ion: a light rail transit line connecting Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo and Fairview Park Mall in south Kitchener. Ion service began in 2019 and experienced a daily ridership of 25,000 in November 2020.
Waterloo's city centre is near the intersection of King and Erb streets. The city's swamp land near where the village was first developed caused problems for development. To mitigate these issues, sand was taken from nearby areas to raise the land; buildings were built on foundations of oak planks; and King Street was originally built as a corduroy road.
The Grand River flows southward along the city's east side. Its most significant tributary within the city is Laurel Creek, which crosses much of the city's central areas, including the University of Waterloo lands and Waterloo Park. In the city's west end, the Waterloo Moraine provides over 300,000 people in the region with drinking water.
Waterloo has a humid continental climate of the warm summer subtype, with large seasonal differences, warm, humid summers and cold winters. Winter temperatures usually occur between mid-December and mid-March, while summer temperatures generally occur between mid-May and late September. Waterloo has approximately 140 frost-free days per year.
As of the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Waterloo has a population of 121,436, a change of 15.7% from its 2016 population of 104,986. With a land area of 64.06 km2, the city has a population density of 1,895.7/km2. As of 2021, the median age is 36.0 years old, as compared to 37.7 in 2016. Waterloo's median age is 13% lower than Ontario's median age, which is 41.6 years old.
The most common ethnic or cultural origins reported in Waterloo in 2021 were German (17.9%), English (17.0%), Scottish (14.6%), Irish (14.3%), Canadian (10.2%), Chinese (8.9%), Indian (6.4%), French (6.0%), British Isles (4.1%), Polish (4.1%), Dutch (3.9%), Italian (3.3%), and Ukrainian (2.4%). Indigenous people made up 1.3% of the population, mostly First Nations (0.7%) and Métis (0.5%).
English was the mother tongue of 64.6% of the population in 2021. This was followed by Mandarin (6.2%), Arabic (2.2%), German (1.5%), Spanish (1.5%), Hindi (1.3%), Punjabi (1.2%), Korean (1.1%), Iranian Persian (1.0%), Urdu (1.0%), Serbo-Croatian (1.0%), Cantonese (0.9%), and French (0.9%).
Kitchener–Waterloo Oktoberfest is a nine-day Oktoberfest celebration held in both Kitchener and Waterloo. It is the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world, and the largest outside of Germany. In 2013, CBC reported that the festival receives over 700,000 annual visitors, has 1,780 volunteers, was broadcast to 1.8 million national television viewers, and generated an estimated $21 million of economic activity.
The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema was an annual film festival dedicated to feature-length animation films. It was held from 2001 to 2013. The International Olympiad in Informatics, a competitive programming competition for secondary school students, was held in Waterloo in 2010.
Waterloo's local tourist attractions and areas of interest include: the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, the Waterloo Central Railway, the City of Waterloo Museum, a statue of monkeys entitled "Banana", the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market (although the market is just outside city limits), University of Waterloo's Earth Sciences Museum, and Conestoga Mall.
Waterloo's parks and recreation facilities mainly comprise Waterloo Park, Bechtel Park, Laurel Creek Conservation Area, the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, RIM Park, and over 150 kilometres (93 mi) of mixed-use trails.
Created in 1890, 45-hectare (110-acre) Waterloo Park is an urban park in Uptown Waterloo which includes an animal farm, sports fields, and a splash pad. It is the oldest park in the city; the mixed-use Laurel Trail and the rapid transit Ion line both run through the park. 44-hectare (110-acre) Bechtel Park is located in eastern Waterloo, and houses a dog park, three soccer fields, a field house, and more. Laurel Creek Conservation Area is in western Waterloo—north-west of University of Waterloo's Environmental Reserve—and houses 122 campsites, 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) of trails, and facilities for canoeing, swimming, windsurfing, cycling, and sailing.
Trails for walking, hiking, and biking play an important part in Waterloo's recreational infrastructure. Waterloo had 150 kilometres (93 mi) of trails by 2007, as compared to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of trails in 1987. The 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) Iron Horse Trail, connecting Waterloo and Kitchener, opened in 1997. Then-mayor Joan McKinnon brought upon the connection of the Trans Canada Trail into the Waterloo Region, which ran from the Iron Horse Trail to Waterloo's northern boundary.
The controlled-access Highway 85, part of the larger Conestoga Parkway, is the only provincial highway that runs through Waterloo. To the north, the divided freeway ends at the city limit, and the road becomes Waterloo Regional Road 85, which accesses St. Jacobs and Elmira, before ending in Elmira. To the south, Highway 85 becomes Highway 7 within Kitchener, before diverging into eastbound Highway 8 (to Cambridge, Highway 401 interchange, and Hamilton) and westbound Highway 7/8 (to New Hamburg, Stratford, and Goderich).
Public transport throughout the Waterloo Region is provided by Grand River Transit (GRT), which provides service for various bus routes and the Ion rapid transit line. The Ion is a light rail line providing service to 19 stations, from Conestoga station (Conestoga Mall in Waterloo) to Fairway station (Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener). The line connects downtown Kitchener and uptown Waterloo.
Waterloo is not currently served by any regularly scheduled passenger rail service. The nearby Kitchener station is accessible from Waterloo through buses or a transfer from Ion's Kitchener Central Station. Kitchener station is serviced by the Kitchener line and the Corridor, operated by GO Transit and Via Rail respectively.
The Region of Waterloo International Airport in nearby Breslau serves Waterloo and the surrounding region, although it is not heavily served by scheduled airlines. Most air travellers use Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport or John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.
The Waterloo Public Library was founded in 1888. As of 2022, the library has 4 branches: the Main Branch, the Albert McCormick Branch, the John M. Harper Branch and the Eastside Branch.
Fire protection and rescue services are provided by Waterloo Fire Rescue, a service of the City of Waterloo. As of 2020, there are four active fire stations in Waterloo. Waterloo Fire Rescue responds to fires, medical emergencies, car accidents and chemical incidents.
