In 1784, by way of the Haldimand Proclamation, the British Government granted the Grand River valley to Iroquois confederation refugees from central and western New York State, indigenous peoples who served as allies during the American Revolution.

[2] Settlement of the what later became the Township of Waterloo started in 1800 (in an area that is now a part of Kitchener) by Joseph Schoerg (later called Sherk) and Samuel Betzner, Jr.[3] (brothers-in-law), Mennonites, from Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

At the time, the upper part of the Grand River Valley was considered deep in the wilderness, and was difficult to penetrate into with wagons due a lack of roads.

One Waterloo County historian, W. H. Breithaupt, believed that Schoerg and Betzner, after arriving in Upper Canada, travelled from Ancaster westward through Beverley Township to a point on the Grand River near where Paris would later be founded, using a road cut through the wilderness the previous year by two Englishmen named Ward and Smith.

Many of the pioneers arriving from Pennsylvania after November 1803 bought land in a 60,000-acre (240 km2) section of Block Two from the German Company[11] from Richard Beasley who had acquired a massive territory.

[12] The tract had originally been purchased from the Six Nations Indians by the British Crown in 1784; it was acquired in 1798 by Richard Beasley and two partners who decided to resell land, in smaller parcels.

The cemetery at First Mennonite church at 800 King St. East in Kitchener is not as old, but contains the graves of some notable citizens, including Bishop Benjamin Eby who died in 1853, Joseph Schneider, and Rev.

Almost as important as Benjamin Eby in the history of Kitchener, Joseph Schneider of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (son of immigrants from southern Germany) bought lot 17 of the German Company Tract of block 2 in 1806.

The Mennonite settlers refused to carry arms so were employed in non-combatant roles in camps and hospital and as teamsters in transport service during the war.

[34] A similar proposal for a "Toronto and Lake Huron Railway" was made in August, which was intended to pass through the townships of Dumfries and Waterloo.

[22] Joseph Schneider also settled in that area and built a frame house in 1820 on the south side of the future Queen Street after clearing a farm and creating a rough road.

[28] The village centre of what would become Berlin (and later, Kitchener) was established in 1830 by Phineas Varnum who leased land from Joseph Schneider and opened a blacksmith shop on the site where a hotel would be built many years later, the Walper House.

The new county council included 12 members from the five townships and two villages; Doctor John Scott was appointed as the first warden (reeve).

Though the courthouse has since been replaced with a modern structure, the gaol and adjacent governor's house remain to this day under historical designation; they have been repurposed for further legal capacities (courtrooms and prosecutors' offices).

[54] In the following years, various County institutions and facilities would be created, including roads and bridges, schools, a House of Industry and Refuge, agricultural societies and local markets.

[55][36] The Grand Trunk and the Canadian Pacific railways provided useful transportation and as a result, furniture manufacturing and other industries began to open in Elmira.

[61] By 1871, Galt still held the lead, but several small and mid-sized settlements in the county had dramatically increased in total number of functional units, overtaking others.

[63] In 1869, the County built a large poorhouse with an attached farm, the House of Industry and Refuge that accommodated some 3,200 people before being closed down in 1951; the building was subsequently demolished.

[64] A research project by the Laurier School of Social Work has amassed all available data about the House and its former residents, digitized it and made the archive available on-line at WaterlooHouseOfRefuge.ca.

Urban railways offered a number of advantages to developing communities, but required a serious infrastructure investment which often fell to local municipalities or private businessmen.

The Grand River Railway was noted by rail historian John M. Mills as one of the earliest interurbans in Canada, and "for many years one of the most energetic and progressive.

[81] Freight service continued, though the line was extensively relocated to make room for highway expansion in south Kitchener during the 1960s.

[82] While German-speaking settlers from Pennsylvania were the most numerous until about 1840, a few Germans from Europe began arriving in as 1819, including Friedrich Gaukel, a hotel keeper, being one of the firsts.

[85] Some sources estimate that roughly 50,000 Germans directly from Europe settled in a large area of Southern Ontario, in and around Waterloo County, between the 1830s and 1850s.

[86] Unlike the predominantly Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania, the majority of Germans from Europe were of other denominations: most in the first groups were Catholic and those who arrived later were primarily Lutheran.

[57] In 1862, German-speaking groups held The Sängerfest, or "Singer Festival" concert event that attracted an estimated 10,000 people and continued for several years.

[87] Eleven years later, the over 2000 Germans in Berlin, Ontario started a new event, Friedenfest, commemorating Prussian victory Franco-Prussian war.

[91] Those of the Mennonite religion were pacifist so they could not enlist and the few who had immigrated from Germany (not born in Canada) could not morally fight against a country that was a significant part of their heritage.

[94] A document in the Archives of Canada makes the following comment: "Although ludicrous to modern eyes, the whole issue of a name for Berlin highlights the effects that fear, hatred and nationalism can have upon a society in the face of war.

In addition, a small portion of Beverley Township, in the former Wentworth County (now City of Hamilton), was added to North Dumfries and the Waterloo Region.