Maple Leaf/ Schneiders Gallery

Named after Sir Adam Beck, Beck's Circus travelled to county fairs and public events in 1912, demonstrating the marvels of electrically powered appliances and farm machinery to a largely rural audience.

Equipment on the truck included a motor and lineshaft, a pump jack, a wringer washer, a grain grinder, a water pump, a butter churn, and a milking machine. Overhead of all the equipment were electric light bulbs to illuminate the equipment below.

The flatbed truck was accompanied by another vehicle outfitted with hundreds of batteries - all to simulate power coming overland via high tension wires from Niagara Falls.

The message was that the future was coming to your home and farm and that future was brought to you by electricity - much of it generated at Niagara Falls.

Beck's Circus is on loan from the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation.

When the Kaufman Footwear factory opened in 1908 hydro power was still unavailable. Hazel, the steam engine, was installed at that time to operate a huge generator which supplied all the power for the factory's eight electric motors and the lighting system. The exhaust steam from the engine also helped to heat the building during the winter.

When hydro-electric power became available in Berlin (Kitchener) in 1910, the engine was switched to supplying direct power to the machinery. The engine could be changed from a motor to a generator via an alternator sub-belt. 

A steel drive shaft ran the length of the factory and it had 6 or 7 gears at different locations. Machines such as mixers, rollers, and rubber vulcanizers were connected to each gear shaft, and Hazel powered the drive shaft. Hazel was retired in 1990 when electricity became cheaper than the cost of steam power.

When you visit this exhibit you'll also find out why the steam engine is called Hazel.

In 2001, the company was sold to Smithfield Foods and then in 2004 to Maple Leaf Foods.

In 2011, Maple Leaf announced that they would consolidate their meat processing operation in Hamilton, and close the J.M. Schneider plant in Kitchener in 2014. 

Maple Leaf donated to the museum more than 250 three-dimensional objects related to the history of J.M. Schneider Limited including meat processing equipment, uniforms, packaging, and promotional and display items. 

A selection of these objects is on exhibit in the museum's What Makes Us Who We Are? gallery. 

The bell was cast at the E.W. Van Duzen Company foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio. This foundry was in operation from 1865 to the 1950s, and provided bells to churches, factories, and schools throughout North America.

This bell was mostly likely purchased after a 1913 fire at the tannery, and placed on the building in commemoration. After the tannery was rebuilt, it was referred to as the Breithaupt Tannery or officially as the Breithaupt Leather Company.

The separator, or threshing machine, that is on exhibit in the Waterloo Region Museum was made by the Waterloo Manufacturing Company between 1890 and 1900.

The company was started in 1880 by Jacob Bricker but was purchased by E.W.B. Snider in 1888. The company manufactured threshing machines and steam traction engines until the late 1920s. It was then purchased by the H.V. McKay Company of Australia. The company continued to operate as the Waterloo Manufacturing Company and made some smaller agricultural equipment until the 1940s.

Of particular interest on this threshing machine are the oil paintings on each side - which we believe were whimsies intended to increase the value of the machine to a prospective buyer.

A large tract of available land. Strong community support. A well educated and skilled workforce. Close proximity to Highway 401, an airport, and a community college. Toyota had many reasons to choose Cambridge.

In the mid-1980s, Cambridge was facing an economic slowdown and the Toyota plant helped boost the local economy. The production line started in November 1988, and through the years numerous additions and upgrades have occurred at the plant.

On exhibit in the Waterloo Region Museum is a 1989 Toyota Corolla. This Corolla was the eighth car manufactured at the Cambridge Toyota plant, and the first car made at the plant to be sold to the public. The car was purchased by Claudette Millar, Mayor of Cambridge at the time, whose enthusiasm and determination were important factors in bringing Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to the Region

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, German-speaking Mennonite immigrants from Pennsylvania moved to southern Ontario, notably to the Niagara Peninsula, York County and lastly to Waterloo County beginning in 1799.

Many of these settlers travelled to Upper Canada in Conestoga wagons - just like the one on exhibit in the museum. This wagon is one of only a few original Conestoga wagons from the 1700s remaining in North America.

Teams of horses pulled the wagons which were loaded with the family's possessions - clothing, tools to clear the land and plant their first crops, and small farm animals. Think of the Conestoga wagon as being like a moving van - because the family had to walk!

Abraham Weber (1787-1867) travelled on horseback to Upper Canada to select a farm site from his father's land purchase in Waterloo County. Abraham returned to Pennsylvania to gather his belongings and in 1807, he returned to Waterloo County in a caravan of four wagons, bringing more than eighteen settlers.

Abraham's wagon is on exhibit in the Waterloo Region Museum.