Kitchener, a vibrant, confident and cosmopolitan community is located in the Region of Waterloo, in the heart of southwestern Ontario. Kitchener is well served by public transport, by train, plane and bus. However you travel, you'll be amazed at what you discover here!
Information contained in this fact sheet was last updated October 2008.
Located in southwestern Ontario, the area known previously as Ebytown and Sandhills became the Town of Berlin in 1854. In 1912, it became the City of Berlin, a name it held for only four years; in 1916, local pressure to distance the city from its German heritage because of anti-German sentiment in World War I resulted in a decision to re-name the city. Kitchener (named after Boer War Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl of Kitchener) was selected from among the six possible choices which included Adanac, Benton, Brock, Corona and Keowana. In 2004, the city celebrated its 150th anniversary of becoming the Town of Berlin.
Kitchener is made up of six wards, 53 planning communities and 30 neighbourhood associations, which cover an area of 136.86 square kilometres. On September 17, 1981, the first ever blue box recycling program was launched in Kitchener.
The total estimated population, as of July 1, 2008, was 219,853.
ETHNIC ORIGIN
British Isles - 65,965 Western European - 47,465
Other North American - 35,975 Eastern European - 22,610
Southern European - 19,270 French - 15,125
East and Southeast Asian - 6,965 South Asian - 5,235
Latin, Central and South American - 3,130 Caribbean - 3,005
African - 2,610 West Asian - 2,260
Arab - 1,810 Other European - 1,045
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census
Kitchener also has:
200 parks covering 3,000 acres Four public library branches
115 kilometres of trails Three senior citizens' centres
Two public golf courses 11 community centres
Seven community pools Five arenas including the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
117 baseball diamonds 127 paygrounds
94 soccer fields 21 tennis courts
57 elementary schools Eight secondary schools
One community college (Conestoga)
Two universities - satellite campuses of the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier Unversity
The top 10 private employers in Kitchener are Schneider Foods/Maple Leaf Consumer Foods (1,688),
Manulife Financial (1,200), Arvato Services Inc. (954), Kitchener Frame Ltd. (750), Rogers
Communication (720), Lear Canada (700), Kuntz Electroplating Inc. (650), Dare Foods Limited (590),
Krug Inc. (550) and BLM Transportation Group (500).
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