Kitchener and Waterloo: Part 1 of 3.
Kitchener and Waterloo, located in southern Ontario in Canada, are two adjacent cities that collided well over a century ago. The boundary between them is irregular, often running through houses and other buildings, including the head office of Sun Life Financial (formerly Mutual Life), where people have to ensure they are in rooms on the appropriate side of the border when signing "dated at …" documents.
The boundary itself is found only on maps, along a short recently built section of University Avenue (see photo in part 2), and at this new shopping mall:
The buried piece of railroad rail is the boundary. If you sit on the bench, you will be in Waterloo, on the north side of the boundary sitting along side the statue of Ira Needles, who himself is firmly seated in Kitchener, on the east side of the boundary.
A plaque accompanying the statue reads:
Ira George Needles
1894 to 1986
Ira George Needles was instrumental in the establishment
of the University of Waterloo and its Engineering School.
Ira Needles Boulevard is named in his honour.
Here he is seen writing his 1956 speech,
"Wanted: 150,000 Engineers – The Waterloo Plan".
He sits straddling the Kitchener-Waterloo boundary owing
to his vision for the community where he live and worked
as President of B.F. Goodrich Canada.
Take a moment to sit beside him and perhaps be photographed
with this pioneer of engineering education at the now globally
respected University of Waterloo.
When the current Mayor of Waterloo opens her front door, the only buildings she can see are in Kitchener.