Kitchener's Pioneer Tower

     This tower overlooks the Grand River Valley and was constructed in memory of Ontario's first inland pioneers. Joseph Schoerg and Samuel Betzner of German descent, arrived here in 1800. The German Company purchased 60000 acres from the Mohawks. In 1805, Dutch and Mennonite settlers arrived, and established an agricultural community.
     The tower was constructed in 1925 to celebrate the German origins of the Waterloo area. In 1926, the tower was officially opened and declared a National Historic Site. It stands 22 metres tall and is topped by a weather vane in the shape of a covered wagon to commemorate the arrival of the colonists from Pennsylvania in Connestoga wagons. Beside the tower, the  graves of the Schoerg and Betzner families are situated. It is the oldest non-Aboriginal burial grounds in Ontario.
     It is an interesting piece of history in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and is located at the end of Pioneer Tower Road off  Deer Ridge Drive, east from King Street in Kitchener. The site is part of the Woodside Historic Site in Kitchener.