Old Photos of Waterloo Region

[UrbanWaterloo]

Interesting photos of Market Square (circa 1980's?). Note the former food court is where the gym currently is. Also the "Bridge to City Hall" would have to be extended quite far to ring true today.

I hung out at Market Square
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...gid=2266872875

[UrbanWaterloo]

Willison Hall, Waterloo College
Date of Original: 1947
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=25518
Description: Black and white photograph of the exterior of Willison Hall. The building is covered with ivy. Conrad Hall is visible on the right.
Notes: Willison Hall was built in 1914, expanded in 1924, and demolished in 1970. It contained administration offices, classrooms and laboratories, a chapel, a dining hall, the library, a gymnasium, and student accommodations. The building was commonly known as “Old Main” until the mid 1950s when it was named in honour of Waterloo College graduate Nils Willison.




Future site of Waterloo Lutheran University Library building
Date of Original: 1964
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20048
Description: Black and white photograph of Erich Schultz, University Librarian, sitting at a desk on the future site of Wilfrid Laurier University Library building. Photograph was taken for fundraising purposes. Willison Hall is on the right, and the Arts Building is on the left.
Notes: The original university library was located in Willison Hall. The current Wilfrid Laurier University Library, a seven storey building located on the main campus, was constructed in three phases. Initial construction began in 1964, and the three storey Library opened in 1965. Construction phases 2 and 3, completed in 1971 and 1984, added the fourth through seventh floors. A major renovation took place in 2002.
Wilfrid Laurier University is located in Waterloo, Ontario. It began in 1911 as the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada. In 1924 Waterloo College was established, providing courses in post-secondary education. In 1960 Waterloo College became Waterloo Lutheran University, and in 1973 changed its name to Wilfrid Laurier University.




Waterloo Lutheran University Library construction
Date of Original: Dec. 29, 1964
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20050
Description: Black and white photograph of construction of the Waterloo Lutheran University Library. Construction workers are visible on the building site. The Arts Building is in the background.




Construction of Library, Waterloo Lutheran University
Date of Original: 1964 or 1965
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20051
Description: Black and white photograph of three men viewing blueprints on the Waterloo Lutheran University Library construction site. Frank Erwin and Sid McLennan are the men standing. The Arts Building is visible in the background.




Waterloo Lutheran University Library
Date of Original: 1965
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20053
Description: Black and white photograph of construction of the first phase of the Waterloo Lutheran University Library.




Construction of the Central Teaching Building, Waterloo Lutheran University
Date of Original: 1968 or 1969
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20052
Description: Colour photograph of people walking in front of the Central Teaching Building (now Dr. Alvin Woods Building) construction site. The Arts Building is visible in the background.
Notes: The five-story Central Teaching Building was constructed in 1969. It was renamed the Dr. Alvin Woods Building in 1996. In 2007 the building underwent a major renovation.




Waterloo Lutheran University campus at night
Date of Original: Between 1965 and 1970
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20056
Description: Black and white photograph of the Waterloo Lutheran University campus at night. The Library is visible on the right side of the photograph with Willison Hall on the left and the Seminary building in the centre.




Waterloo Lutheran University Library, Phase 2 construction
Date of Original: 1970
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20057
Description: Black and white photograph of the Waterloo Lutheran University Library during the second phase of construction. The fourth and fifth floors were added to the building.




Wilfrid Laurier University Library
Date of Original: 1971
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20063
Description: Black and white photograph of the exterior of the Wilfrid Laurier University Library.
Reverse: Phase II, 1971




Computers replace card catalogue at Wilfrid Laurier University Library
Date of Original: Between 1987 and 2002
http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/...s.asp?ID=20079
Description: Colour photograph of Wilfrid Laurier University Library reference librarian John Arndt (left, centre) instructing patrons in the use of the automated cataloguing system.

[UrbanWaterloo]

Awesome photo set of Downtown Kitchener! Market Square looks a lot different without the glass enclosure. As much as I love the TD Canada Trust Centre, it's too bad we lost a heritage (IMO) 6-storey building in the process. Add this to my goal list: take updated photos of each shot to do a side-by-side comparison thread, probably this year, although 2011 would be neat as a 30-year anniversary.

Kitchener 1981
Photographs of downtown Kitchener Ontario Canada taken in December 1981
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2113263...7613680412500/

[UrbanWaterloo]

A step back: Main street meets memory lane
February 19, 2010 By: Joni Miltenburg
http://observerxtra.com/2/featured/taking-a-step-back/

There are few traces left of the first buildings in Woolwich and Wellesley townships, which were simple log homes. As the population of the townships grew, the first entrepreneurs built stores, mills and hotels. Early wooden buildings were replaced by more substantial structures of brick and stone. Old stores closed and new ones opened, and the buildings that housed them at times fell down, burned down or were torn down to make way for something ne

Still, many of those early buildings are standing today. Often they are disguised by new signs and paint, but a second look reveals the familiar shapes and rooflines. These photographs offer a glimpse into the past and reveal the evolution of the main streets and prominent buildings in Woolwich and Wellesley townships.

Arthur Street looking north
The top photo was taken sometime before 1918, when the wooden O’Donnell House on the far left (where the Central Tavern is now) burned to the ground. The large sign on the left, near the present Brown’s clothing store, reads “Fischer Bros Pool Room. Cigars and Tobacco.” On the right, the present day Sip ‘n Bite was Grey’s Grocery. Upstairs was the telephone exchange and the ticket agency for the Grand Trunk Railway.



Arthur Street looking south
The top photo was taken in Elmira sometime between 1899, when the boardwalks were paved, and 1915, when the spire of St. James Lutheran Church, visible in the distance, was taken down. Given the number of horses and wagons in the street, it was likely taken on fair day or pig fair day. The Kitchen Kuttings building on the corner has a vertical sign reading “Ruppel & Co.” George Ruppel operated White Groceries and his wife sold fine china in the back of the store. Above, the view from Church Street as it appears today.



Wellesley mill
Heading into Wellesley Village on Nafziger Road, the landscape is dominated by the mill built in 1856 by Christopher Doering. This photo was taken some time after the mill was enlarged to its present size in 1910. The small dark-coloured house beside the mill is gone, but the brick building north of it was John George Reiner’s general store, now the Schmittsville Restaurant. Across Maple Leaf Street, the brick building on the corner was a woolen mill where Reiner employed 50 people for weaving, carding, spinning and dyeing.



Queen’s Bush looking east
The brick building on the left was the Royal Hotel, started by Peter Berdux in 1857. The distinctive mansard roof was added in 1880, and the livery was next to the hotel. The small fieldstone house east of the hotel was built in 1858 by John Schneider. At the end of the block is a two-storey brick building with three chimneys, which originally housed the Wellesley Hotel and General Store. It was destroyed in a fire a number of years ago.



Queen’s Bush looking west
The Kelterborn store on the left was originally the Doering General Store, built in the 1860s. William Kelterborn worked for George Doering and bought out his stock in 1896. Across the street, the frame house was replaced by the two-storey brick Bank of Commerce. The small beige house is still there, but next two homes have been replaced by the CIBC.



Wellesley’s centre light
Taken around the 1930s, this top photo shows Queen’s Bush Road, looking west. The Royal Hotel is on the right, with gas pumps and the stage coach steps in front of it. The next building on the right was the Bank of Commerce, now the pharmacy. At Christmastime, a large tree was set up next to the light post in the centre of the intersection, and the village gathered to listen to a band. Inset, the view today.



St. Clements
The postcard at right, postmarked Aug. 31, 1907, shows the main street of St. Clements, with the St. Clements store (now a café) on the right. The flat-roofed building with the boomtown front three houses up was Peter Schummer’s store. Schummer lived in the Edwardian home beside it, built in 1905. Above, the facade changes visible today.



Heidelberg Hotel
The Olde Heidelberg Restaurant started life as Henry Miller’s Great Western Hotel. Built in the 1840s, it served as a stage coach stop between Kitchener-Waterloo and Glen Allan and is one of the oldest remaining hotels in Waterloo Region. Miller also owned the store across the road, which was connected to the hotel by a tunnel. Legend has it that during Prohibition, liquor was smuggled from the store to the hotel through the tunnel.



King Street, St. Jacobs
Of the towns in Woolwich and Wellesley, St. Jacobs has undergone the most radical transformation. Looking north on King Street, the only buildings that remain from this photograph from around the turn of the century are the W. and A. Snyder commercial block at the corner of Front and King Streets and the Dominion Hotel just visible opposite them. The Snyder Flour Mill at the foot of the street was destroyed by fire in 1921.



Naugatuck Chemicals
The ivy-covered building at the foot of Erb Street started life in 1900 as the Elmira Felt Company. When Elmira Felt went out of business, it became the Fleet Foot factory, producing tennis shoes for export. The building sat empty from 1930 to 1941, when Naugatuck Chemicals was founded. The company, which has produced DDT, 2,4-D and Agent Orange among other chemicals, became Uniroyal, then Crompton and Chemtura. The CNR station is now a parking lot, and the water tower was taken down in the 1980s.

[Shawn]

Love the Elmira photos....maybe I'll try to get the same angle shots with the crowds of people when I'm there for the Maple Syrup Festival this Saturday!

[Duke-of-Waterloo]

Pioneer Tower - Construction

November 19, 1925







(Photos from my family collection)

[DHLawrence]

Hard to imagine Market Square without the glass facade and clock tower. Only part of the building worth looking at, if you ask me.

[UrbanWaterloo]

What was the old Market Square patio used for? Did they ever hold mini-concerts/events? Was it primarily used for smoking? Was it a popular place for employees or food court customers to eat at?

Does anyone know when the glass enclosure was added? Any photos of it's construction?

[panamaniac]

I don't remember the roof garden being used for events of any kind. The food court in its present location is a later addition - the upper floor was originally all retail. I have been trying to recall how you got out to the roof garden from the mall, but I can't - there obviously was a doorway up there somewhere, but I can't feature it.

[Razzie]

Waterloo Town Square - Kmart addition - 1977


Waterloo Town Square before Zehrs/Shoppers/Scotiabank expansion

[garthdanlor]

Wow, Uptown certainly looks better now than it did in the 70's. Unfortunately, I don't think the same can be said for Downtown. This will change, however, once the Centre Block is filled in.

Anyone else remember the creepy old manequins that they used to have in the window of "The Youth Shoppe"? I seem to recall being afraid that they would come alive and kill me when I used to walk by as a kid.

[Spokes]

Wow, great pictures Razzie! And welcome to the forum!

Things have certainly changed over ~30 years.

[IEFBR14]

Wow, great pictures Razzie! And welcome to the forum!

Ditto!

Things have certainly changed over ~30 years.

Yeah, try to imagine a K-Mart in downtown Waterloo. Then when they went broke the space got leased to Liquidation World.

We've come a long way, baby

P.S. The top right of the second photo, that shows the old Seagrams distillery, is also sobering.

[Spokes]

Yeah, try to imagine a K-Mart in downtown Waterloo. Then when they went broke the space got leased to Liquidation World.

I vaguely remember the K-Mart from when I was a kid. And then the liquidation world. When I used to work uptown back in high school I loved the A&W that was in there. It's hard trying to describe to people what it used to be like though

P.S. The top right of the second photo, that shows the old Seagrams distillery, is also sobering.

Ya I noticed that too. So were ALL of those buildings the distillery?

[Razzie]

Thanks guys! Those pictures are a bunch from the library's online collection - the rest are here
http://recherche.alouettecanada.ca/r...t=score%20desc

[IEFBR14]

So were ALL of those buildings the distillery?

I believe so. At one point Waterloo was the home of Crown Royal.

P.S. In those days you could navigate by smell. Start at Seagrams distillery, then past the Carlings brewery, then along Park St to the UniRoyal tire plant, on to Courtland to Schneider's and finally the Dare cookie factory. In those days they made no effort to keep smells in check so on a hot, humid summer day riding my bike from Waterloo to Fairway Road was a real test of endurance.

[IEFBR14]

From my collection. See the second last line on the label.

The box has an LCBO price sticker that reads $8.80. By 1967 the price had gone up to $10.85.

[panamaniac]

I believe so. At one point Waterloo was the home of Crown Royal.

P.S. In those days you could navigate by smell. Start at Seagrams distillery, then past the Carlings brewery, then along Park St to the UniRoyal tire plant, on to Courtland to Schneider's and finally the Dare cookie factory. In those days they made no effort to keep smells in check so on a hot, humid summer day riding my bike from Waterloo to Fairway Road was a real test of endurance.

On an impulse, I bought a bottle of Crown Royal XR at a duty free a couple of months ago - it supposedly comes from the last barrels of whisky taken out of the Waterloo warehouse (the two red brick buildings at the top of the photo showing the old Waterloo Square). Outrageous price, but it seemed like something to have (too bad I don't drink rye!).

I also remember vividly all those smellls - as well as Weston's. A bad day near Schneider's was a bad day indeed!

[Spokes]

(too bad I don't drink rye!).

You almost wouldn't want to drink it!