First Mennonite Church and Cemetery: Where Kitchener Began

First Mennonite Church at a Glance

Benjamin Eby and the Birth of Ebytown

Benjamin Eby was born in 1785 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He came to Upper Canada in 1806, bought a large block of land here and settled the next year. He was ordained in 1809 and made a bishop in 1812.

Eby was the religious and community leader of the settlement for decades. It was known as Ebytown, was renamed Berlin around 1830, and became Kitchener in 1916. A provincial plaque honouring him stands on the church grounds today.

Over the years the congregation was called Eby’s, Benjamin Eby’s, Christian Eby’s, Berlin and East End before it became First Mennonite in 1917. Until about 1956 it was the administrative centre for Mennonite churches in the Waterloo area, and from 1920 to 1969 it hosted the annual Ontario Mennonite Bible School.

The Cemetery

The First Mennonite Church Cemetery holds graves from Kitchener’s earliest settlement. It was the main burial ground for the first two generations of pioneers, and it also took non-Mennonite settlers until the 1840s. Bishop Benjamin Eby, who served his church and community for 44 years, is buried here.

What makes it special is the stonework. According to the heritage designation, it has the strongest concentration of folk-decorated Pennsylvania-German grave markers in Ontario, many with fine carving. Look for tulips, hearts and German lettering on the older stones.

The City of Kitchener gave notice of its intention to designate the cemetery under the Ontario Heritage Act in March 2016, citing its direct link to Eby and the early Mennonite church.

Heritage designation protects the cemetery’s character, including the old markers and its setting on King Street East. It doesn’t turn the cemetery into a museum. It is still a church cemetery, and it sits in a busy part of the city, surrounded by homes, shops and the ION line.

Visiting and Living Nearby

• Be respectful. It’s a working church and a cemetery. Visit quietly and keep off the graves.
• Find the plaque. The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque for Bishop Benjamin Eby is on the church grounds.
• Check before you go. For service times or access to the church itself, check the congregation’s website.

The church is on King Street East between downtown Kitchener and the Rockway area, close to the ION light rail. The neighbourhoods around it have many older brick homes, some on streets laid out in the 1800s. If you like older character homes near transit, look at King East, Rockway or homes near the LRT. For more local history, read about the Walper Hotel.

This guide was first written by Will Kummer in 2021 and updated by George Dmitrovic in 2026.