Hespeler, Ontario
| Hespeler | |
|---|---|
| Dissolved town | |
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| Nickname(s): The Beehive | |
 Hespeler
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| Coordinates: 43°25′59″N 80°18′26″W / 43.4331°N 80.3072°WCoordinates: 43°25′59″N 80°18′26″W / 43.4331°N 80.3072°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | Waterloo |
| City | Cambridge |
| Settled | 1830 |
| Incorporated | 1901 |
| Amalgamated | 1973 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Forward sortation area | N1P, N1R, N1S, N1T, N3C, N3H |
| Area code(s) | 519 and 226 |
| NTS Map | 040P08 |
| GNBC Code | FCKDQ |
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Hespeler Transit Terminal
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| Coordinates | 43°25′09″N 80°19′32″W / 43.41917°N 80.32556°W |
| Owned by | Grand River Transit |
| Platforms | 4 |
Hespeler is a neighbourhood and former town within Cambridge, Ontario, located along the Speed River.
This area of the Grand River valley was once the territory of a people known by their Huron neighbours as Attawandaron, which means ‘people who speak differently’. French explorers in the early 1600s called these same people ‘Neutrals’ because they maintained peaceful relations with both their Huron and Iroquois neighbours. In 1650, invading Iroquois conquered Neutral territory during the Beaver Wars. In 1784, the Grand River Valley was granted by the British Crown to Loyalist Iroquois, led by Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant). A block of land from this grant was resold by Brant in 1798, and In 1830, Joseph Oberholtzer purchased a parcel of this land along the Speed River. The settlement that followed was to become known as New Hope. In 1845, Jacob Hespeler arrived in New Hope. Hespeler purchased land along the river and built several industrial mills. In 1857, Hespeler called for a Census to find out if the number of residents in the settlement would be enough to name it a village. The Census took place in July 1858, and the settlement was renamed the Village of Hespeler on January 1, 1859. The village continued to grow until it was incorporated as the Town of Hespeler in 1901.
Historically, the town’s largest employer began as the woollen mill J. Schofield Co. in 1864. In 1928, that company was known as Dominion Woollens and Worsteds and advertised it was the largest woollen mill in the British Empire. During World War II, the mill supplied Canada with most of its wool for uniforms. However, by 1959, the company was facing bankruptcy and was sold to Silknit, which eventually closed in 1984.
The town was also home to the Hespeler Hockey Stick Co. since 1905. The Hespeler Shamrocks, is the name of the minor hockey teams in town run by Hespeler Minor Hockey Association under the Ontario Minor Hockey Association . Graduates include Kirk Maltby and Paul Woods of the Detroit Red Wings, Tim Brent of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ken Ellacott of the Vancouver Canucks, Don "Red" Laurence of the Atlanta Flames and former NHL Linesman Bob Hodges.
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