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===History of the Town of Hespeler=== {{Main|Hespeler, Ontario#History}} The area that eventually came to be Hespeler was also on land (Block 2 measuring over {{convert|90000|acre|km2}} purchased in 1798 by Mennonites from Pennsylvania from the Six Nations Indians with the assistance of developer Richard Beasley. The first of settler, in 1809, was Abraham Clemens who had bought {{convert|515|acre|km2|1}} of land from Mr. Beasley on the Speed River. In 1810, Cornelius Pannabecker arrived and set up a blacksmithy a year or two later. Twenty years later, Joseph Oberholtzer purchased a much larger area of land that would become the early Hespeler. It was named Bergeytown in honour of his brother-in-law and the name became New Hope in about 1835.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cambridge.ca/en/learn-about/Local-History.aspx |title=History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |website=Cambridge |publisher=City of Cambridge |access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref> Settler Jacob Hespeler arrived in 1845 and bought a {{convert|145|acre|km2}} tract on the Speed River. He built an industrial complex that was the beginning of Hespeler's future industrialization which would consist primarily of woollen and [[textile mill]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitcambridgeontario.com/About-Cambridge-Hespeler.htm |title=History, Hespeler |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2015 |website=City of Cambridge |access-date=22 March 2017 |archive-date=March 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323053227/http://www.visitcambridgeontario.com/About-Cambridge-Hespeler.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Records from 1846 indicate a population of only 100 inhabitants, a grist and a saw mill, a tannery, a tavern, one store, one pail factory, two blacksmiths, two tailors, two shoemakers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Wm. H. |date=1846 |title=Smith's Canadian Gazetteer - Statistical and General Information Respecting All Parts of the Upper Province, or Canada West |url=https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit |location=Toronto |publisher=H. & W. Rowsell |page=[https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smit/page/136 136]}}</ref> In 1858, Jacob Hespeler opened the Post Office and the settlement, previously called New Hope, was incorporated as the village of Hespeler.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/001075/f2/e010780571_p3.pdf |title=SW-Ontario-Counties_e010780571|page=151|access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref> The arrival of the railway in 1859 helped businesses to develop and prosper. By 1864, there was a large flour mill, cloth and wool manufacturing plants, a sawmill and a distillery all built of cut stone. There was also a large furniture factory and four churches.<ref>{{cite book | title = County of Waterloo Gazetteer and General Business Directory, For 1864 | publisher = Mitchell & Co. | year = 1864 | url = http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/001075/f2/e010780571_p3.pdf | page = 150}}</ref> Continued growth allowed Hespeler to be incorporated as a town in January 1901. Over the following years, the community continued growing slowly. By 1911 the electric railway system between Preston and Galt had reached Hespeler as well as Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover.<ref name="CambridgeInfluence" /><ref name="therecord.com"/> Textile production mills were the primary industry in the early 1900s and continued to be successful until the late 1940s, when this industry began to decline. Other industries continued to boom and by 1969, Hespeler's population was 6,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cambridgeweb.net/historical/hespeler.html |title=Brief History of the Community of Hespeler |date=2009 |website=Cambridgeweb |publisher=Cambridge Web |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312051825/http://cambridgeweb.net/historical/hespeler.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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