Editing Waterloo, Ontario (section)

=== 20th and 21st centuries ===
The [[Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway]] (later called the [[Grand River Railway]]) connected to Waterloo in 1911 and ended service in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=19 January 2017 |title=Cambridge and its Influence on Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit |url=http://www.explorewaterlooregion.com/2017/01/railway-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312053020/http://www.explorewaterlooregion.com/2017/01/railway-history/ |archive-date=March 12, 2017 |access-date=10 March 2017 |website=Waterloo Region }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mills |first=Rych |date=10 January 2017 |title=Flash From the Past: Preston Car and Coach goes up in smoke |work=Record |location=Kitchener |url=http://www.therecord.com/living-story/7058983-flash-from-the-past-preston-car-and-coach-goes-up-in-smoke/ |url-status=live |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619190736/https://www.therecord.com/life/2017/01/10/flash-from-the-past-preston-car-and-coach-goes-up-in-smoke.html |archive-date=June 19, 2022}}</ref> The Kitchener Public Utilities Commission stopped providing streetcar service in 1947, and were replaced by electric [[Trolleybus|trolley coaches]]. Waterloo was incorporated as the City of Waterloo in 1948.<ref name="WaterlooHistory" /> The trolley coaches ended service in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |date=22 January 2021 |title=Flash From the Past: Faster, smoother, quieter trolleys take over King Street |url=https://www.therecord.com/life/local-history/2021/01/22/flash-from-the-past-faster-smoother-quieter-trolleys-take-over-king-street.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125120200/https://www.therecord.com/life/local-history/2021/01/22/flash-from-the-past-faster-smoother-quieter-trolleys-take-over-king-street.html |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=24 January 2021 |work=Waterloo Region Record |quote=From 1888 to 1947, Berlin/Kitchener and Waterloo had been connected by streetcars plying King Street. Initially powered by horses — but after 1895 by electricity via a single pole connecting with an overhead wire}}</ref> In 1911, a plan was mooted to pave King street.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=85}} William Snider who owned the town square, did not want to pay the higher taxes, which would refused from paving King Street.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=85}} Snider offered to deed the town square to town, which instead demanded he pay the higher taxes.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=85}} Snider sold the town square to the Molson Bank, which up a Beaux Arts style bank on the site of the town square in 1914.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=85}} In 1929, the H.V. McKay company of Australia proposed to open a factory for "one, man, self-propelled combine harvesters".{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=84}} The town provided the land for the factory from the Canada Barrels and Kegs and fixed the tax assessment at $25, 000 per year for the next 10 years in exchange for the factory being built.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=84}}> In 1911, Waterloo Lutheran seminary, which later became Wilfrid Laurier University, was opened.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=61}} On 5 May 1916, a group of soldiers sacked the German Acadian Club in Waterloo.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=63}} In October 1918, Spanish flu reached Waterloo.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=69}} Over 2, 000 people were "down with the malady".{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=69}} By November 1918, the Waterloo Chronicle reported that "twice as many had died from the influenza as had been killed in action in four years of war".{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=69}}

The presence of the [[University of Waterloo]] in the city caused technological and innovative companies to base in Waterloo,{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=171}} especially companies specializing in computing and [[software]]. For example, [[BlackBerry Limited|Research in Motion]] (now BlackBerry Limited), which developed [[BlackBerry]], was started by [[Mike Lazaridis]] and [[Douglas Fregin|Doug Fregin]] in 1984.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=174}} In 1965, the University of Waterloo was the second-largest private sector employer.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=139}} The construction of the buildings for the University of Waterloo made the unemployment rate very low in the 1960s.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=140}} By 1971, the population of Waterloo had grown 424% since 1945.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=140}} Kitchener was a working class city while Waterloo was a middle class city.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=141}} In 1981, the average annual household income in Kitchener was $26, 279 and in Waterloo was $31, 224.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=141}} In 1950, Waterloo had 55 factories that employed 2, 572 people, in 1970 had 79 factories that employed $5, 483 workers, and in 1980 132 factories that employed 7, 314 workers.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=141}} The founding of the universities led to the north-eastern area becoming developed as the new housing subdivisions were built while the area around Weber declined.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|pp=141–143}} The architecture of Waterloo changed from a more traditional [[Victorian architecture]] style to favouring a more streamlined look, incorporating elements from architectural styles such as [[Postmodern architecture]], which ultimately led to a movement to preserve Waterloo's historical core.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=143}} A 1994 issue of the ''[[Financial Post]]'' mentioned Waterloo-based companies [[MKS Inc.|MKS]], [[Watcom|WATCOM]], and [[OpenText|Open Text]] in a list of the top 100 independent software companies in Canada.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|2007|pp=174}} In 1960, a study revealed 50% of the buying by Waterloo consumers was done in Kitchener, leading to the city to develop a retail district.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|pp=109–111}}

In the 1980s, Waterloo came to have the character of a "post-industrial city".{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=144}} Mennonite farmers continued to come to Waterloo in their horse-powered buggies for shopping while the middle class people drove out to eat and drink at the numerous pubs and hotels out in the countryside.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|Jaeger|1990|p=144}}

In June 2011, the Waterloo Region council approved the [[Ion rapid transit|Ion]]: a [[light rail]] transit line connecting Conestoga Mall in north Waterloo and Fairview Park Mall in south Kitchener.<ref>{{cite web |date=2011-06-15 |title=Rail plan passes |url=http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/548497--rail-plan-passes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312025134/http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/548497--rail-plan-passes |archive-date=March 12, 2012 |access-date=2012-02-20 |publisher=TheRecord}}</ref> Construction on the Ion began in August 2014. In 2016, two sections of a [[corduroy road]] were unearthed. One was in the [[King Street (Waterloo Region)|King Street]] area of the business district and the second was discovered near the [[Conestoga Mall (Waterloo, Ontario)|Conestoga Mall]]. The road was probably built by Mennonites using technology acquired in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, between the late 1790s and 1816.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} The log road was buried in about 1840 and a new road built on top of it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8926047-university-of-waterloo-researchers-hoping-to-borrow-corduroy-road-samples/ |title=University of Waterloo researchers hoping to borrow corduroy road samples |first=James |last=Jackson |newspaper=Waterloo Region Record |date=September 26, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=June 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619190728/https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/09/25/university-of-waterloo-researchers-hoping-to-borrow-corduroy-road-samples.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8599125-corduroy-road-gives-a-glimpse-into-waterloo-s-past/ |title=Corduroy road gives a glimpse into Waterloo's past |first=James |last=Jackson |newspaper=Waterloo Region Record |date=May 10, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-date=June 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619190729/https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/05/10/corduroy-road-gives-a-glimpse-into-waterloo-s-past.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A historian{{Who|date=June 2022}} explained that the road had been built for access to the mill but was also "one of the first roads cut through (the woods) so people could start settling the area".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/it-looked-like-a-giant-rib-cage-in-the-ground-the-centuries-old-origins-of-silicon-valley-north-laid-bare-by-lrt-build |title='It looked like a giant rib cage in the ground': The centuries-old origins of Silicon Valley north laid bare by LRT build |work=Canada's Historic Places|access-date=29 March 2021 |quote=}}</ref> Ion service began in 2019 and experienced a daily ridership of 25,000 in November 2020.<ref name="Ion Ridership">{{cite web |date=November 18, 2020 |title=Public transit numbers on the rise since Ion launch in June |url=https://www.keolis.ca/en/node/234 |access-date=November 19, 2020 |publisher=[[Keolis]]}}</ref>

{{wide image|Waterloo_Ontario_Pano.jpg|1000px|Uptown looking Northwest from the Uptown Parkade. Landmarks visible include the Marsland Centre on the extreme left and Waterloo City Hall on the extreme right.}}