St. Jacobs, Ontario: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:St Jacobs logo.gif|right|St. Jacobs' logo]] |
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[[Image:St Jacobs Market.jpg |
[[Image:St Jacobs Market.jpg|thumb|St. Jacobs farmers' market]] The community of '''St. Jacobs''' is located in southwest [[Ontario]], just north of [[Waterloo, Ontario|Waterloo]] in [[Woolwich, Ontario|Woolwich Township]], [[Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario|Waterloo Region]]. It is a popular location for [[tourism]], due to its [[Mennonite]] heritage and retail focus. |
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==Tourism and business== |
==Tourism and business== |
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Revision as of 01:21, 10 July 2007
The community of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of Waterloo in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region. It is a popular location for tourism, due to its Mennonite heritage and retail focus.
Tourism and business
Three kilometres south of the town centre is the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, another popular tourist draw. Fresh farm products are sold from across the area, plus many vendors have discount clothing, toys, candy and other wares. A factory outlet mall is located adjacent to the market site. The market, town and surrounding countryside are marketed as St Jacobs Country. St. Jacobs is also the headquarters of Home Hardware.
History
Officially named in 1852, St. Jacobs was first known as "Jakobstettel" which means "Jacob's Village". The St. was added to the name simply to make it sound more pleasing and the pluralization was in honour of the combined efforts of Jacob C. Snider (1791-1865) and his son, Jacob C. Snider Jr. (1822-1857), founders of the Village. The younger Jacob lost his life in the Desjardins Canal train disaster at age 35. The Jakobstettel Inn still preserves the town's original name and has a rose garden dedicated to the memory William and Alice Snider.
Businesses
Home Hardware, a national chain of independent hardware retail stores has its head office in St. Jacobs. It was founded in 1963 and has over 1000 independent stores located across Canada.
Trails and Recreation
The Millrace Foothpath, a recreational trail that forms part of the Trans Canada Trail, runs along the Conestoga River from the Village of St. Jacobs to dam further up the river. The trail offers many scenic views of the river and the millrace constructed in the 1860's that used to power the village's gristmill. The trail has a lenght of 2.5 km and can be used year-round.