Jacob Yost Shantz

Jacob Yost Shantz (2May 182228October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario (which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held a succession of civic roles over a period of almost three decades, culminating in a term as mayor in 1882. Over the span of his life, Berlin was transformed from a rural agricultural settlement known as Ebytown into a bustling manufacturing centre; this was a change mirrored by Shantz, who began his adult life as a farmer and sawmiller, and ended it as a prominent local industrialist.

Late in his life, he travelled to the newly-colonized province of Manitoba, and subsequently helped tens of thousands of Russian Mennonites to immigrate there from the Russian Empire.

Biography

Early life and business

Jacob Yost Shantz was born and raised in Ebytown, Upper Canada, which later evolved into the city of Kitchener, Ontario. He was the sixth son of Jacob Shantz and Mary (or Maria) Yost, who were Mennonites from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His paternal great-grandfather was an earlier Jacob Shantz, who had been born around 1710 in modern-day Switzerland and emigrated to Montgomery County by the mid-18th century. Jacob and Mary purchased land in the Ebytown area in 1810 as a part of the original wave of Mennonite settlement in the German Company Tract led by Benjamin Eby.

Little was recorded about Shantz's childhood, but it was likely typical for the children of pioneer families in the area at the time. Pioneer youths were usually kept busy with farm duties such as carrying water, caring for animals, and chopping wood. Shantz received a basic education several months at a time during the winter, when less labour was required on farms. As his brothers reached adulthood, they dispersed to carve out their own farms from the heavily forested wilderness of the German Company Tract. Jacob's eldest brother, Isaac, was married at eighteen to Catharine Clemens and started his own farm across the Grand River. One of Jacob's younger brothers, Samuel, joined him there around a decade later with his own wife, Esther Erb. The Grand Trunk Railway mainline was later routed through Samuel's land, which became the site of a short-lived railway station called Shantz Station. A post office was also opened and there were plans for a village, but this never materialized and both the post office and railway station later closed.

As Jacob's older brothers left home and cleared their land for farming, he accompanied them to help maintain their camps and assist in clearing; by fifteen, he was highly skilled at the felling of timber. On his twenty-first birthday, Jacob married his cousin, Barbara Biehn, and soon took over his parents' farm. He later took over the management of his father's sawmill, likely sometime between 1845 and 1851, which "launched [his] entrepreneurial and civic career." had recently immigrated to the area from Mecklenburg (now a part of modern-day Germany), and wanted to construct a wind-powered gristmill similar to one he had operated in his homeland. Shantz offered Rickermann relatively generous terms for the construction of the windmill, and only took a minimal upfront payment. This began a short-lived venture in grist milling, a first for Berlin, as well as the construction of its first and only windmill. For a generation, farmers in the area had brought their grain to the mill in Waterloo which had been founded by Abraham Erb. The windmill was constructed on the top of Berlin's highest hill, which was soon known as the Mecklenburg Hill. near the centre of Berlin's growing downtown. On this site, he constructed the Canadian Block. While it was not Berlin's first large commercial building, but it was the most prestigious, and symbolized Shantz's upbeat "white collar" debut. As he became increasingly more involved in the business and governance of the village, Shantz was criticized in the local press for his close association with the village council and his role as a perennial municipal contractor. In particular, the Berlin Telegraph challenged the payment of $120.23 to Shantz by the village council to build an open drain which would direct factory discharge water away from Shantz's own Canadian Block, whose major tenant at the time was a village councillor. The newspaper article argued that the drain would primarily be for Shantz' benefit, and "'suspicious transactions' were implied." Little came of this, however.

Several years later, disaster struck for Shantz and for his Canadian Block. Early in the morning of 22 March 1865, a fire began in the pharmacy which was located on the corner of the first floor. It soon spread to other parts of the first floor, as well as the upper floors. By the time the fire was discovered and firefighting equipment had arrived, the building was lost, and all efforts were focused on preventing the fire from spreading to nearby buildings, such as Jacob Hoffman's factory on the other side of Foundry Street. Notable losses from the fire included Heinrich Bachmann's photography studio, J. Webster Hancock's law office on the second floor (including all books and documents), and the Mechanics' Institute library on the third floor.

Shantz was faced with the loss of a $6000 building on which he had no insurance. Private insurance was traditionally discouraged within Mennonite communities, though mutual aid was permitted as a means for the community to help bear the burdens of the individual. Ontario Mennonites had generally discussed provisions for fire assistance in the past, but no concrete actions had been taken. However, within a month of the fire, the Mennonite ministers and deacons in the Waterloo district passed a resolution encouraging deacons to conduct appraisals of damage in the case of fires, and to encourage church members to contribute to support the victim of the fire.

The building was soon rebuilt in brick, and was later sold to the Breithaupt family in 1888. Today, it is one of the oldest surviving commercial buildings along King Street West in downtown Kitchener.

Other projects

Shantz became involved in numerous other development projects in the town, one of the most notable being the 1869 construction of a multi-use civic building designed to serve as a town hall, public library, and market. As early as 1859, Shantz had been a supporter of a central farmers' market in Berlin, but the village council at the time was not ready to act. Soon after it was constructed, the building was quickly outgrown, with the market relocating to a new dedicated building in 1872; it would gradually evolve into the Kitchener Farmer's Market. The original 1869 building continued to house the Berlin Town Hall and Berlin Public Library until the construction of a Carnegie library on Queen Street in 1904, with the library soon relocating to the new building. In 1924, a newer grand city hall (the predecessor of the current Kitchener City Hall) was constructed directly behind the old town hall, and the latter was finally demolished.

Industrialist

In 1870, Shantz built a button factory for the business partners Emil Vogelsang and John Jacob Woelfle. Vogelsang was a young immigrant who had been born in Baden in what is now modern-day Germany. He arrived in Berlin in 1867. A button turner by trade, he formed a partnership with the merchant H.S. Huber and began his own button company, named the Pioneer Button Works, using a room leased from the Simpson Furniture Company. Shantz's original seven-year contract with Vogelsang expired in 1875, and Shantz took the factory for himself, with Vogelsang having a new button factory built on Queen Street South.

Shantz also founded a Mennonite colony at Didsbury, Alberta.