St. Jacobs, Ontario

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The community of St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of the city of Waterloo in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region. It is a popular location for tourism, due to its Mennonite heritage and retail focus upon local handicrafts. 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.

Some 3 km south of the town proper 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.

St. Jacobs is also the headquarters of Home Hardware, Canada's largest and best-known home improvement and construction retailer.

The market, town and surrounding countryside are marketed as St Jacobs Country.

[edit] Demographics

Racial Profile

• 98.1% White
• 0.5% Asian
• 0.3% Arab
• 0.3% mixed race
• 0.1% Chinese

Religious Profile

• 67.7% Protestant
• 18.4% Roman Catholic
• 4.0% other Christian
• 1.2% other religions
• 8.5% non-religious