Kitchener, Canada Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Just off Hwy 401 about 100km west of downtown Toronto, KITCHENER lies at the centre of an industrial belt whose economy is based on rubber, textiles, leather and furniture. The town was founded as Sand Hills in 1799 by groups of Mennonites , a tightly knit Protestant sect who came here from the States, where their pacifist beliefs had incurred the wrath of their neighbours during the Revolution. Soon after, German farmers began to arrive in the area, establishing a generally good-humoured trading relationship with the Mennonites. The new settlers had Sand Hills renamed Berlin in 1826, but during World War I it was … more »