The Village of St. Jacobs: A Glimpse into
Ontario's Mennonite Heritage
.
Join Margaret Deefholts on this Magic Carpet
Journal as she takes you to a
heritage Mennonite village in the heart of Ontario
At nine o'clock on a perfect summer
morning the Village of St. Jacobs is
tranquil, its shops still shuttered and its
sidewalks deserted. From where I stand
looking down King Street, the only
vehicle on the road is a horse-drawn black
buggy driven by a Old Order Mennonite
farmer in a wide-brimmed black hat. A
few minutes later another four wheeled
open carriage crests a rise in the road, this
time with a young woman at the reins.
She, and her companion both wear long
sleeved print dresses, aprons and bonnets,
while the small boy sitting between them is
in white shirt sleeves and suspenders.
They look as scrubbed and wholesome as a Norman Rockwell painting.
The clip-clop of the horses' hooves and the clatter
of carriage wheels, the splash of potted geraniums
and petunias along the sidewalks, the scent of
fresh baked bread wafting out from the village
bakery, and the heritage buildings flanking the
street are all reminiscent of a long gone era of
unhurried simplicity. At first glance it seems as
though nothing has changed since the town's Old
Order Mennonite settlers first arrived here in
Connestoga wagons in the early 1800s. The
notion of time standing still is, of course, illusory,
but in St. Jacobs this is a gentle deception. Many
of the old buildings still exist, but in a new guise -
that of upscale boutiques, craft shops and art
galleries.
While most visitors are drawn to St. Jacobs for its
antiques, fine linen and furniture shops, many are
also intrigued by its unique history. Two centuries
ago the Village was known as Jakobstettel or "Jacob's settlement" after Jacob C. Snyder, the
Mennonite farmer who pioneered the early development of the town. Although "Jakobstettel"
was anglicized to "St Jacobs" with the opening of the first post office in 1852, the old Mennonite
family names still permeate the Village. Eby Street is a well traveled thoroughfare, the old
William W. Snyder House, built in 1898, now re-named Jakobstettel Guest House, is an elegant
Queen Anne style mansion, while the Steiner House built around 1857, is a four-square Georgian
building fronting on King Street. (In the course of recent renovations, a child's shoe was
discovered buried in the wall - a good luck charm, according to an old German belief.) The
Steiner House is now a boutique called "Ruffled Elegance" and an Old Order Mennonite lady
sometimes drops by to demonstrate the art of quilting in an upstairs room.
Most of us are familiar with the Home
Hardware signboard in our local shopping
malls, but few realize that St. Jacobs is
where it all started. Walter J. Hachborn
went into partnership with Henry Sittler
back in 1948 and together they developed
the chain of independently run stores
which now stretch across Canada.
Hachborn still lives in the neighborhood
and is often seen in the original retail
outlet on King Street, or at the Home
Hardware headquarters a few blocks south
of the town core. The name Sittler is, of
course, well known to hockey fans, and St
Jacobs was where the former Toronto
Maple Leaf captain spent his boyhood
years. Darryl's grandfather Jake worked at St. Jacob's
Creamery in the days when milkmen delivered cream and
milk door to door in horse and wagon teams. The local
joke is that Darryl's unerring slap-shot technique was
developed in the course of helping his grandfather heave
manure out of stables.
A block over from the Home Hardware store, I pause at
the corner of King Street and Front Street where another
landmark of St Jacob's Mennonite heritage rises against
the skyline: the silos of the Pioneer Roller Flouring Mill.
Established by Elias W.B Snider in 1870, this was the
first mill in Canada to export its prime quality flour to
Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast. Today the silos have
been converted into an unusual retail outlet for the
Village's gifted craftspeople, and as a showcase for
exquisite collections of crystal cut-glass, brass lamps,
stained glass, jewelry, leatherwork, woven mats, quilts,
pottery and glass-blown objets d'art.
A couple of hours later, having lingered to chat with
craftsmen - not to mention putting my credit card to
work in the Riverworks Retail Centre - I emerge onto the street just as the bell-tower of St
James' Lutheran Church begins its noon-hour carillon performance. For a few moments the
tourists now crowding the sidewalks of the Village are held captive, their eyes softening into
nostalgia as the mellow notes float on the afternoon air.
Lunch beckons and I drop in to Benjamin's
Restaurant & Inn which sits on King Street, kitty-corner from the Silos. Built in 1852 by Joseph
Eby as a coach-stop between Kitchner (then
known as Berlin) and Elmira, it was flanked by a
horse and carriage livery service. The latter has
been replaced by Good's Garage - a business
which services a different mode of transport -
Home Hardware's fleet of trucks. The only
reminder of a long vanished era, is a sidewalk
trough and pump once used for watering horses.
Benjamin's Restaurant & Inn however, continues
the tradition of congenial hospitality. I am
ushered into their elegant dining room with its cross beamed ceiling, molded white stucco walls
and cozy fireplace, to enjoy my lunch - a piquant seafood entree and crème caramel desert - in an
atmosphere of old world charm.
Even though the legacy of Mennonite pioneers
lingers on in St. Jacobs' historical landmarks, few
members of the Old Order live in the Village
today. Primarily a farming community, their
homesteads are dotted across the rural areas
surrounding St. Jacobs. As I emerge onto King
Street after lunch, it is now lined with cars, pick-up trucks and SUVs, and its sidewalks are
thronged with shoppers. I am back in the
commercial world of the 21st century, and in its
bright glare, no horse drawn buggies rumble over
the rise in the road.
Article by Margaret Deefholts
IF YOU GO: The Village of St. Jacobs lies
approximately 15 kilometers north of Waterloo in
the Kitchner-Waterloo area of Southern Ontario.
The Visitor Centre at St. Jacobs houses a
Mennonite Interpretation Centre which provides a
fascinating insight into the history, beliefs and
lifestyles of the Mennonite people, via a
multimedia presentation encompassing photos,
narratives, lighted displays and a film
documentary. Admission by donation. For
further information on days and hours of
operation Ph: (519) 664-3518 or Fax (519) 664-3786. Or e-mail Mary Price, Tourism Manager,
St. Jacobs at mprice@stjacobs.com
The Village also boasts a lively series of theatre performances and special festival events. The
nearby St. Jacobs Country Farmers' Market (and Flea Market) offers a cornucopia of farm
grown fruit, vegetables, fresh baked bread, cookies, home made jams, cheeses and summer
sausage.
For general information on the Village of St. Jacobs and surroundings, go to
http://www.stjacobs.com/
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Last Updated on
February 14, 2004
by M. Maxine George editor. © 2003 Magic Carpet Journals. All rights reserved