J. Maas

Other Events:

• Occupation: Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; artisan - piano maker
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-9135

Notes:

King Street, Kitchener

Next easterly were the foundry buildings of Huber & Ahrens, operated from 1840 to 1853. There were four separate buildings, 30 or 40 feet back from the King Street line. In the moulding shop, Mr. Stroh remembers seeing the glittering metal run out from the cupola, at casting time, when he was a boy. The woodworking and power building was a two-storey brick structure with a smoke stack about 50 feet high. The second floor of the building was used for painting and finishing. On the Foundry Street side there was an outside stairway and incline to let down finished machinery. A third building was used for making agricultural machines, threshing cylinders and ploughs. Separators were not made at that time. Near Foundry Street there was a two-storey building with gable toward King Street, used also for woodworking and for the office. In this building three pianos, the first to be made in Berlin, were turned out in 1852. These were upright pianos, hand-made all except the keyboard. The artisan was J. Maas and he made the pianos, one for Charles Ahrens, one for Henry S. Huber and one for Charles Hendry of Conestoga. This latter building was later moved alongside of Winger's pump shop and used as a cigar factory for a time; eventually it was converted into a dwelling. The moulding shop of the foundry was later used as an ashery. After Mr. Ahrens died m 1853 the foundry buildings were sold by auction to Sheriff Davidson who owned them for a number of years.

REMINISCENCES OF BERLIN (NOW KITCHENER) By JACOB STROH Contributed by Joseph M. Snyder.

Part I. Settlement - Early Villagers and Buildings, Waterloo Historical Society Annual Volume 1930