Mayor Henry William Sturm^[1]

1884 - 1977  (92 years)

• Name	Henry William Sturm
  Prefix	Mayor
  Born	10 Jun 1884	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Elected Office	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	mayor - councillor - Kitchener
  	Years Served: 1924-26, 1928, 1930-32, 1933-34 (Mayor), 1936-42, 1944-53
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223553101
  Honoured	Henry Sturm Greenway, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Henry Sturm Greenway named in his honour
  Interesting	politics
  Occupation	1905	Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 3]
  	Barber
  Residence	667 King St. W., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-41416P
  Died	16 Feb 1977	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Buried	Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I41416	Generations
  Last Modified	11 Jun 2026

  
  

  Father	Christian Sturm,   b. 31 Aug 1851, , Germany ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Margaret Lorenz,   b. 24 Jun 1848, , Germany ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F10804	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Lavinia May Ferrier,   b. 12 Apr 1883, Cheltenham, Chinguacousy Twp., Peel Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 10 Apr 1935, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 51 years)
  Married	17 Jul 1905	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 4]
  Children	1. Harold Sturm,   b. 3 Sep 1907, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown   2. Ross Wilfred Sturm,   b. 17 Mar 1909, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1951  (Age 41 years)   3. Marguerite Ellis "Margaret Sturm,   b. 5 Feb 1915, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 26 Mar 1994, Montecito, Santa Barbara, California, United States  (Age 79 years)
  Last Modified	12 Jun 2026
  Family ID	F28770	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Henry W. Sturm from Waterloo Region Hall of Fame

  
  

• Notes

  Henry Sturm good citizen At the time of his death Wednesday former Kitchener mayor Henry Sturm had been out of the municipal limelight for almost 25 years However his career before his retirement in 1953 had involved not only city council and the board of health but also sports with the emphasis"on baseball He was involved in the formation of the Inter-County Baseball Association shortly after the irst World War a league which provided sports fans in the area with good baseball into the 1950s But it is as aiderman and mayor that Mr Sturm is no doubt best remembered Later he recalled that he had been mayor during the Great Depression when he had to deal with pleas for work or help from dozens of unemployed daily It was during this time that Mr Sturm using common sense and imagination organized 'the construction of a municipal golf course using unemployed workers The result Rockway golf course later became the spawning ground of some of the province's best golfers Henry Sturm was what would today be called a disadvantaged youngster leaving school at the age of 12 to work in a furniture factory But this didn't stop him from going onto a varied career which included operation of a tobacco shop pool room and bowling alley Along the way he got into politics "because a group of friends made sure that he would stand in a municipal election His down-to-earth grassroots approach proved an effective formula for a long and successful political career which included service as an early president of the Ontario Municipal Association. Kitchener-Waterloo Record Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Thu, Feb 17, 1977 Page 6 ____________ Mayor, alderman for 26 years, Henry Sturm dies Henry W. Sturm, who as mayor of Kitchener in 1933-34 recruited unemployed men to build Rockway golf course, died today at the Sunnyside. Home in Kitchener. He was 92. He was also a major sports organizer in the Twin Cities and was a founder of the Inter-County Baseball Association. Mr. Sturm served as a city alderman for 24 years between 1924 and 1953, when he retired because of failing sight. "My eyes got so bad I couldn't see the agenda," he said in a 1965 interview. During his terms on council, he was chairman of every committee. He also served eight years on the board of health. Mr. Sturm, who had lived at Huronia Hall for the blind in Kitchener since 1967, missed only 10 meetings during his council years. He had lived at Sunnyside for the past two months. When he stepped down in 1953, he recalled that his biggest headache as mayor was relief and unemployment because it was during the Depression. He often went to the city hall at 8 a.m. and would find 30 or 40 unemployed citizens waiting to be interviewed. Born in Waterloo on June 10, 1884, Henry Sturm left school at the age of 12 to work at Kreiner's furniture factory - 10 hours a day for $1.75 a week. By 1898, he was working 18 hours a day at the Waterloo Woollen Mills for $17 every two weeks. He learned the barbering trade when he was 15 and it was during that job that he became a good listener - a quality which was to be a valuable asset during his terms as alderman and mayor. Later, he went into the tobacco store, poolroom and bowling alley business at various locations in the city. He was operating a poolroom on King Street and was almost manhandled into running for council the first time. "The boys insisted I run and they took me right up to the city hall to make sure I would qualify," he said in an interview some years ago. "I said I would go alone but wouldn't have it. When they took me into the clerk's office one of the aldermen seeking re-election wanted to know what I knew about city business. I told him I guess I knew as much as he did the first time he ran." The alderman failed to win re-election but Mr. Sturm placed 15th. The council in those days had a mayor and 15 aldermen. Among his many recollections of private and public meetings dealing with elections was a time when he sat in an undertaker's parlor and discussed campaign strategy with two other men in the presence of a corpse. His early sports activities included being the first secretary and second president of the Inter-County Baseball Association, which he said was the upshot of the increase in sports interest after the First World War. The organizational meeting took place during the winter of 1919 at the Lancaster Club on King Street. "There was a lot of interest and rivalry and I can remember that Galt and Guelph delegations always brought their lawyers," he recalled, in a a junior 1959 interview. In 1922 a junior Inter-County league was formed and Mr. Sturm became president. He recalled that Guelph was using a catcher who was a reformatory prisoner. They were getting him out to play the games but Galt lodged an official protest claiming the prisoner wasn't eligible under the residence rules. Galt lost the protest when the Kitchener delegation supported Guelph. He said that the Inter-County series hit its peak about 1950 when the teams used almost whole teams of imports - and went broke. Among other things, Mr. Sturm was also an early president of the Ontario Municipal Association. His wife died in 1963. Surviving are two daughters in California. Mr. Sturm will be cremated and a memorial service will be held at a later date.. Kitchener-Waterloo Record Wed, Feb 16, 1977 Page 37

  
  

• Sources

  [S4] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, 019023-05. Henry W. Sturm, 21, Occ. Barber, b. Waterloo, Res. Waterloo, son of Christian Sturm & Margaret Lawren--?(Off Page, Lawrence?), married Lavina Ferrier, 21, b. Cheltenham, Res. Berlin, daughter of Amos Ferrier & Adelaide Turner, Witn Mrs. W. H. Rhodes & Alice Ferrier Both of Berlin, 17 July 1905 in Berlin. [S135] Census - ON, Waterloo, Waterloo City - 1901, Waterloo (Town/Ville) D-3 Page 9. [S57] Vit - ON - Birth Registration. Name:Harold Sturm Gender:Male Birth Date:3 Sep 1907 Birth Place:Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Father:Hy W Sturm - barber Mother:Lavina Feiner [S57] Vit - ON - Birth Registration. Name:Ross Wilfride Sturm Gender:Male Birth Date:17 Mar 1909 Birth Place: Berlin Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Father:Henry William Sturm - barber Mother:Lavina May Ferrier married: 17 Jul 1905 Berlin

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 10 Jun 1884 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Elected Office - mayor - councillor - Kitchener - - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Honoured - Henry Sturm Greenway named in his honour - - Henry Sturm Greenway, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Barber - 1905 - Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - - 667 King St. W., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 17 Jul 1905 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 16 Feb 1977 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth