This is the historic core of Waterloo -- the centre of town ever since a village formed around Abraham Erb's mills in the early 19th century.

It was constructed in 1914 as The Molson's Bank. The land on this corner had, for a century, been used as a town square. Abraham Erb had set it aside for this purpose and the area was commonly referred to as Waterloo Square or Mill Square.

Around 1912, the owner, William Snider, tired of paying taxes to the town on land that was used for civic gatherings and events, offered to donate the property to the town. Town council turned him down.

So Snider sold the land to the Molson's Bank for $10,000 and the town lost its central gathering place. Eighty-five years later, in October 1997, a new gathering place was built by the City outside the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery at Erb and Caroline.

The Bank of Montreal actually predates The Molson's Bank in Waterloo. It had opened a branch in a commercial block behind Waterloo Square in 1862.

The block of retail stores on south-east corner of King and Erb go back to the construction of Jacob Bricker's Commercial Buildings in 1857. The windows in 4 King Street South -- a designated heritage landmark (pictured second building from left) -- show what the entire block looked like more than a century ago.

One of the few historic plaques in Waterloo is mounted outside this store. It commemorates the conception of the Dominion Life Assurance Company at a meeting held at Simon Snyder's Drugstore on this site in 1888 (Snyder was a town councillor and would later serve as mayor from 1895-97). Dominion Life, along with Mutual Life, helped define the city for much of the 20th century. It was acquired by Manulife in 1985.

The Ontario Seed Company, whose retail store is also a Home Hardware (16 King Street South, pictured, far right) was founded in 1907 and has been in this building since 1911.

A 10-screen, 2,500-seat movie complex is scheduled to be built between the Bank of Montreal and the railway tracks at an estimated cost of $10-million.

Written by Gary Will
gary@garywill.com

Text and photographs copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 by Gary Will. All rights reserved.