Editing Kitchener, Ontario (section)

====Civic institutions====

[[File:City Hall Clock Tower Victoria Park Kitchener.jpg|thumb|The old City Hall clock tower in Victoria Park]]

On 9 June 1912, Berlin was designated a city.<ref name="kitchener.ca"/> At this time, the City Hall was in the two-story building at King and Frederick Streets that had also been used as the Berlin town hall, completed in 1869 by builder [[Jacob Yost Shantz|Jacob Y. Shantz]]. During its tenure, the structure was also used as a library, theatre, post/telegraph office, market, and jail. That building was demolished in 1924 and replaced by a new structure behind it, designed by architects William Schmalz and Bernal Jones, featuring a classical-revival style and a large civic square in front.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/heritage-resources-centre/blog/post/protecting-municipally-owned-heritage-part-two |title=Protecting municipally-owned Heritage(part two)|date=27 July 2015 |publisher=University of Wisconsin |access-date=24 March 2019 |quote=the splendid 1920s classical revival-style city hall was demolished in 1973. The building presided over a great civic square, which was also lost — both replaced with a non-descript mall.}}</ref> Demolished in 1973, and replaced by an office tower and the [[Market Square Shopping Centre (Kitchener)|Market Square shopping mall]], the old City Hall's clock tower was later (1995) erected in Victoria Park. The building was not replaced by the current [[Kitchener City Hall]] on King Street until 1993; the architect for the latter was [[Bruce Kuwabara]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Flash from the Past: Berlin's market building also housed post office, council chamber |date=17 September 2018 |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8907635-kitchener-celebrates-its-world-class-welcoming-city-hall/ |work=Waterloo Region Record |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref> During the interim years, the city had occupied leased premises on Frederick Street.<ref>{{cite news|title=Flash From the Past: Controversy and Kitchener's city halls seem to go together |date=22 March 2019|url=https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9235390-flash-from-the-past-controversy-and-kitchener-s-city-halls-seem-to-go-together/|work=Waterloo Region Record |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Flash from the Past: Berlin's market building also housed post office, council chamber |date=16 June 2015 |url=https://www.therecord.com/living-story/5661552-flash-from-the-past-berlin-s-market-building-also-housed-post-office-council-chamber |work=Waterloo Region Record |access-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324121648/https://www.therecord.com/living-story/5661552-flash-from-the-past-berlin-s-market-building-also-housed-post-office-council-chamber/ |archive-date=24 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kitchener was in many cases within Ontario the earliest adopter, or one of the earliest adopters, of many municipal institutions which later became commonplace. These institutions included library boards, planning boards, and conservation authorities. Known collectively as the agencies, boards, and commissions (ABCs), these special-purpose bodies became a characteristic element of Canadian governance.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lucas |first=Jack |date=2013 |title=Hidden in Plain View: Local Agencies, Boards, and Commissions in Canada |journal=IMFG Perspectives |publisher=Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance |number=4 |url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/82711/1/imfg_perspectives_4_hidden_in_plain_view_lucas_2013.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/82711/1/imfg_perspectives_4_hidden_in_plain_view_lucas_2013.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|2}} The ABCs movement in Kitchener began in the 1890s with the passage of the 1894 ''Public Parks Act'' transferring management of the town's parkland from a committee of the town council to a parks board, an initiative which ultimately led to the creation of [[Victoria Park, Kitchener|Victoria Park]]. A prominent supporter of this movement was [[John Richard Eden]],<ref name=lucas-berlin-abcs>{{cite journal |last=Lucas |first=Jack |date=Spring 2013 |title=Berlin, Ontario, in the Age of the ABC |journal=Urban History Review |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |volume=41 |number=2 |pages=19–29 |doi=10.3138/uhr.41.02.02 |jstor=43560359}}</ref>{{rp|20}} who would later become mayor of the town in 1899.<ref>{{cite book |author=Canadian Press Syndicate |year=1902 |title=Album of Canadian Mayors |url=https://archive.org/details/albumofcanadianm00cana |pages=21−22|publisher=Montreal }}</ref> The parks board was followed in 1899 by a water commission, whose creation was heavily supported by local industrialists following a devastating fire at a local factory in 1896, as well as due to the need by many industries for a reliable water supply.<ref name=lucas-berlin-abcs />{{rp|21}} The town's local gas plant and electric utility was similarly [[municipalization|municipalized]] in 1903,<ref name=lucas-berlin-abcs />{{rp|21}} resulting in the creation of the Berlin Light Commission.

Facing a mounting sewage problem, especially as a result of effluent from the town's industrial [[tannery|tanneries]], local leaders in Berlin campaigned at a provincial level to be allowed to create a sewage commission, for which there was no provision in provincial legislation. Ultimately, a private bill was passed, allowing Berlin to create the first sewage commission in Canada in 1904.<ref name=lucas-berlin-abcs />{{rp|22}} The [[Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway]] was soon also taken over and municipalized. Kitchener was the first city in Ontario to get hydroelectric power in long-distance transmission lines from Niagara Falls, on October 11, 1910.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/2568202-power-for-the-people-power-flowed-100-years-ago-this-month/ |title=Power for the people: Power flowed 100 years ago this month |first=Terry |last=Pender |date=10 October 2010 |work=Waterloo Region Record |access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref> The growing roster of public utilities managed by the Light Commission led to its reorganization into the [[Kitchener Public Utilities Commission]] in 1924,<ref>{{cite book |last=Sandwell |first=R. W. |date=2016 |title=Powering Up Canada: A History of Power, Fuel, and Energy from 1600 |publisher=McGill–Queen's University Press}}</ref> which operated as the municipal gas, electric, and light utility, as well as the local street railway operator.