Breslau (ˈbɹɛzlɑː) is a community located within the township of

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

, part of the

Waterloo Regional Municipality The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfri ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Separated from the city of Kitchener by the Grand River, Breslau takes its name from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

name for the city of

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is located at the junction of Highway 7 and Waterloo Regional Road 17. This routing, although recently bypassed, is the main route between Kitchener and the nearby

Region of Waterloo International Airport Region of Waterloo International Airport or Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is an international airport serving the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Woolwich, Ontario, Canada, west of Toronto. It has year round daily flights to Edmonton, Vancou ...

, located south of the settled area. It is also close to the city of

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

History

The first settlers to the area now called Breslau arrived in 1806, mostly German

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

families from Pennsylvania. Settlers included John Brech, Daniel Erb and John Cressman. In the 1820s, members of the Cressman Mennonite Church began congregating in the homes of the early settlers. in 1834, the first meeting house in Waterloo County (built by Benjamin Eby in 1813) was donated to the Breslau congregation and moved to the settlement. In 1850, Joseph Erb built a dam, a sawmill and a grist mill. The village was named after Breslau, the German name for the city of

. Breslau was, at the time, the capital city of the Province of Silesia in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. A post office was established in 1857 and began receiving mail on a daily basis. By 1864, the settlement had several tradesmen including two blacksmiths, a cooper, wagon maker, a cabinet maker and two mills.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Breslau had a population of 5,053 living in 1,582 of its 1,635 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,778. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

Tubby Schmalz Clarence Vincent "Tubby" Schmalz (December 19, 1916 – December 7, 1981) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He served as vice-president of the Western Ontario Athletic Association from 1940 to 1950, and coached and managed the senior ice ...

(1916–1981), Canadian ice hockey administrator, first commissioner of the

Ontario Major Junior Hockey League In 1970, the Junior A level was divided into two more levels, Tier I (Major Junior A) and Tier II (Minor Junior A). In 1974, the "Major Junior A" division of the OHA became the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) and began to operate ind ...

References

External links

Town site
{{authority control Breslau Woolwich, Ontario Designated places in Ontario