St. Jacobs, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. The Conestogo River, which powered the village's original gristmill, runs through the village.
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[edit] 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. This national chain of over 1000 independent hardware retail stores located across Canada was founded in the village in 1963.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Trails and recreation
The Millrace Foothpath, a recreational trail that forms part of the Trans Canada Trail, runs along the Conestogo River from the Village of St. Jacobs to dam further up the river. The trail offers many scenic views of the river and of the millrace constructed in the 1860's that used to power the village's gristmill. The trail has a length of 2.5 km and can be used year-round.
[edit] Famous natives
- Darryl Sittler, NHL former player
[edit] External links
