Waterloo Region Generations

1906's Galt's YMCA basketball team

Waterloo Region has a proud history of brewing. Here is a modern part of it.

For a time George Byron Ryan had a quality store on King St. E. in downtown Kitchener. https://generations.regionofwaterloo.ca/getperson.php

A gruesome and particularly unusual case (l have found no parallel to it in the province) comes from Waterloo in 1859. A Dr. Frederick Christ was convicted of having stolen the body of a child of the Eby family from the grave to make a skeleton. Dr. Christ had apparently performed the same operation on a number of bodies and, it appears from the evidence at the trial. Freely admitted to enquiring friends and visitors at his house what he was doing. One witness testified that... he saw the doctor boiling what the doctor affirmed to be human bones in a kettle, another that he saw human bones in a tub in the doctor's barn. Presumably the accused was in the business of selling mounted skeletons to doctors and medical students. He and an accomplice were each sentenced to three months in the common jail. BODY-SNATCHING IN ONTARIO by Royce MacGillivray

There are many stories of the brave of World War One. Other stories of those who served, survived and carried on normal lives. Some were injured, suffered a lifetime of health problems, other were injured mentally. One such person whose name is lost to history ended his days in Waterloo's House of Industry and Refuge. Unable to face people and was mentally paralyzed the horrors of war lived alone in a shack across from the house [now The AR Goudie long-term care home] on ...Frederick street. He remained during the shack during the daylight hours, coming out at night and helping to take care of the potato crop that grew in the field surrounding him. The Reiko family who lived across from the field on Indiana would leave meals for him at his door step and in return they would at times find that he had been busy in the middle of the night helping to care for the grounds about their house. His fate is unknown, the memory passed down and recorded on Mel Green's entry on Waterloo Region Generations.

An early postcard of Riverside Park in Preston/Cambridge, colorized.

Remembering the Knotty Pine in Preston

Burton Victor Peters of Galt, musician played for silent movies and wrote music. Inspired by Robert Falle and Paul Langan's recent posts Burt Peters Dies In His 84th Year... Burton Victor (Burt) Peters, whose talent as a pianist, singer and composer dated back to the pre-sound days of movies, died on Saturday at the Freeport Hospital after a lengthy illness. In. his 84th year the late Mr. Peters, who resided at 31 Queen St. W., was born in Peterborough and had been a resident of Galt for 60 years. In 1955 the late Mr. Peters, and his wife Lindley, who survives, were honored in Toronto at a banquet at the King Edward Hotel as he was inducted into the 25-year club of the Famous Players Corporation. Coming to Galt in 1910 he was with a travelling show of the late Prof. John C. Green, old Galtonian, noted magician and one of the first men in Canada to go on tour to introduce the new discovery, moving pictures. The late Mr. Peters sang songs illustrated on the big screen at Scott's Opera House. At that time the accompaniment was provided by the theatre orchestra. The deceased travelled all over the country with the Green show for the next four years. He had an excellent voice. In 1914 he permanently located in Galt, joining the staff of the Temple and later the Grand Theatre. He was the pianist and leader of the orchestra for eight years. Then in 1922 he moved over to the Park Theatre in Preston where he remained for six years until the introduction of the talking movies, which eliminated the need for an orchestra. For several years he was employed at the former Wragg Shoe. When the Capitol Theatre opened its doors on June 16, 1930, he assumed the duty as doorman, one which he held until his retirement in 1958. Some of the songs Mr. Peters wrote included "Meow, Pretty Kitty, Kitty, Kitty," "Over the Hill to Grandma." and "Life Is of Central What You Make It" He was a member of Central Presbyterian Church. Surviving are his wife, the former Lindley Nelson; a son James, of Galt; a sister, Mrs. William (Cora) Smith of Peterborough, eight grand-children and four great-grandchildren. A daughter, Kathleen, predeceased him in 1960. Friends will be received at Little's Funeral Home, 39 Grand Ave. N. where funeral and committal service will be held Tuesday at 3:30. Interment will be in Mount View Cemetery. Galt Reporter 6 Feb 1971