The Joseph Schneider House 1820

and

Joseph Schneider Haus

There are two plaques at this location.
Both can be seen on this page.

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted March, 2004

Plaque Location

The Region of Waterloo
The City of Kitchener
On Queen Street South, west side, south of Courtland Avenue

Coordinates: N 43 26.676 W 80 29.683

Plaque Text

This house, constructed in 1820 by Joseph Schneider (1772-1843), is the oldest surviving dwelling in Kitchener. Built of frame and originally covered with roughcast, it has been little changed externally since 1850. Schneider, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, purchased this lot in April 1807 in the German Company tract in Waterloo Township. He arrived here in June of that year, and after clearing his farm and cutting a road along the line of Queen Street, built a sawmill in 1816. Shortly thereafter a small settlement began to form along "Schneider's Road", partly on his land, which became the village of "Berlin" and the nucleus of the city of Kitchener.

Photos by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted April, 2010

Plaque Text

Built around 1816, this house is a reminder of the migration of Pennsylvania-German Mennonites to Waterloo County in the early 19th century. The movement was led by Joseph Schneider, the builder of the house, and his brother-in-law Bishop Benjamin Eby, with the goal of creating a new colony in Upper Canada. The city of Kitchener grew up around their properties, becoming the centre of German culture in Ontario. One of the best preserved pioneer dwellings in the region, the house faithfully reflects the distinctive vernacular plan developed by Mennonites in the pre-revolutionary American colonies.

Related Ontario plaques
Bishop Benjamin Eby, 1785-1853
First Mennonite Settlement

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted June 24, 2008
Is this place really haunted? I heard it was suppost to be. About a lady cutting something in front of the upstairs mirror. Then dissapearing into the kitchen.

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