Ontario’s German communities are found today in three distinct areas of the province: the Regions of Waterloo, Niagara and York. They are some of the oldest communities in the province:
 

Berlin, now Kitchener, was permanently settled by Pennsylvania Germans in 1806. By the 1830s, waves of continental Germans made Berlin the largest German community in Canada	The Lasky Emporium, 1845, of Lasky, north of Toronto, was transferred in the 1960s to Black Creek Pioneer Village, at Steeles Ave. and Jane Street, on the outskirts of Toronto, where 19th century German–Canadian life is showcased throughout the year;
New Hamburg was the name chosen by continental Germans who made the community a focus of their traditional activity in the early 1830s;	Stouffville, to the northeast of Markham, is an agricultural community founded by the Stauffer family, Pennsylvania Germans

 

1.Markham was founded on the banks of the Rouge River by Germans from Pennsylvania in the late 18th century, and by 1826 was a booming community with the arrival of Jacob Reesor. This view depicting a Markham Mennonite coming to town in his wagon, circa 1910, is still typical in Ontario’s Germanic communities to this very day 2. Vineland, in the heart of the Niagara peninsula, has roots going back to the early 1800s. The village post office and general store, viewed here, was run by D. Fry, direct descendant of Jacob Fry, an early founder of Jordan, the earliest Mennonite community in the province

 

Preston, originally called Erb’s Mills, was settled mainly by Pennsylvania Germans in the early 1800s and continental Germans by mid-19th century. Warm mineral springs were soon discovered, making Preston a health spa by the 1830s. The Kress Hotel at the end of the street in this view was the first business established in Ontario to offer a bath with running water.