Personal Stories from our Industrial Past

Select a link from the list below to hear stories from people who worked in Kitchener’s manufacturing sector:

Stop 1 – Arrivals, Victoria Park Stop 2 – Working Class Neighbourhoods Stop 3 – Main Street Kitchener Stop 4 – Spirit of Labour Stop 5 – Golden Moment

Stop 6 – Civic Square Stop 7 – A New Era Stop 8 – Industrial Row Stop 9 – Innovation District Stop 10 – Francis Green

(Download PDF of the Walking Tour Guide)

Made in Kitchener: Personal Stories from our Industrial Past is an interactive documentary about the lives of working people in Kitchener during the last half of the 20th century, a time when the city was an industrial powerhouse. Mass manufacturing has since declined giving way to knowledge-based industries and beginning a fresh economic cycle.

This documentary combines selected interviews from an archive of oral histories collected as part of the City of Kitchener’s Industrial Artifacts project with other archival material and contemporary photos and video.

Through the lens of personal stories, everyday people describe their working lives. Lives that were inextricably tied to a kind of work that has faded as a driving force in the local economy.

The interactive format of the work encourages participants to contribute their insights through the project website.

Made in Kitchener is a collaboration between the City of Kitchener, Latitudes Storytelling Festival and digital media artist Dwight Storring who curated and produced the stories and walking directions.