Hespeler
| Hespeler | |
|---|---|
| Dissolved town | |
 |
|
| Nickname(s): The Beehive | |
 Hespeler
|
|
| Coordinates: 43°25′59″N 80°18′26″W / 43.4331°N 80.3072°WCoordinates: 43°25′59″N 80°18′26″W / 43.4331°N 80.3072°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | Waterloo |
| City | Cambridge |
| Settled | 1830 |
| Incorporated | 1901 |
| Amalgamated | 1973 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Forward sortation area | N1P, N1R, N1S, N1T, N3C, N3H |
| Area code(s) | 519 and 226 |
| NTS Map | 040P08 |
| GNBC Code | FCKDQ |
|
Hespeler Transit Terminal
|
|
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°25′09″N 80°19′32″W / 43.41917°N 80.32556°W |
| Owned by | Grand River Transit |
| Platforms | 4 |
Hespeler is a neighbourhood and former town within Cambridge, Ontario, located along the Speed River in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In 1973, Hespeler, Preston, Galt, and the hamlet of Blair were amalgamated in 1973 to form the City of Cambridge. The first mayor of Cambridge was Claudette Millar.
There was considerable resistance among the local population to this "shotgun marriage" arranged by the provincial government and a healthy sense of rivalry had always governed relations among the three communities. Even today, though many residents refer to their area of Cambridge as being Galt or Preston or Hespeler. Each unique centre has its own history that is well documented in the Cambridge City Archives.
No population data is available for the former Hespeler since the Census reports cover only the full area of Cambridge.
The former Hespeler is in the most northeasterly section of Cambridge. Even in the early days it had an industrial base, primarily woollen and textile mills. The former Galt covers the largest portion of the amalgamated municipality, making up the southern half of the city. The former Preston and Blair are located on the western side of the city.
This area of the Grand River valley was once the territory of a people known by their Huron neighbours as Attawandaron, which means ‘people who speak differently’. French explorers in the early 1600s called these same people ‘Neutrals’ because they maintained peaceful relations with both their Huron and Iroquois neighbours. In 1650, invading Iroquois conquered Neutral territory during the Beaver Wars. In 1784, the Grand River Valley was granted by the British Crown to Loyalist Iroquois, led by Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant).
The area that eventually came to be Hespeler was on land (Block 2 measuring over 90,000 acres (360 km2) purchased in 1798 by a group of Mennonites from Pennsylvania from the Six Nations Indians with the assistance of developer Richard Beasley. The first settler, in 1809, was Abraham Clemens who had bought 515 acres (2.1 km2) of land from Mr. Beasley. 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. Initially, it was named Bergeytown in honour of his brother-in-law and the name became New Hope in about 1835.
...
Wikipedia