Kitchener, Regional municipality center in Ontario, Canada.
Kitchener is the regional municipality center in Ontario, located about 100 kilometers west of Toronto along the Grand River. The urban area includes parks along the river, residential neighborhoods with houses of different eras, and older factories alongside newer office buildings.
German settlers from Pennsylvania founded a colony in 1807 that was initially called Berlin. The name changed to Kitchener in 1916 through a local vote, honoring a British field marshal of the First World War.
Residents celebrate the largest Bavarian festival outside Germany each October with traditional costumes and music. Many street signs and buildings still reflect the German-speaking settlers from Pennsylvania.
Buses from Grand River Transit connect all neighborhoods and run to neighboring Waterloo. Via Rail trains stop at the downtown station and reach Toronto in about one hour.
Old industrial buildings along King Street now house start-ups and software companies with open floor plans. The conversion of the brick structures began in the 1990s and now shapes entire blocks.
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