Arthur James "A. J." Krueger

Other Events:

• Name: A. J. Krueger
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-84358
• Residence: 1891, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Lutheran
• Occupation: 1901, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Woolen Mill
• Business: 1905, Queen St. E., Hespeler Waterloo Co., Ontario; Krueger Meats
• Occupation: 1911, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Butcher
• Residence: 1911, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Methodist

Notes:

Arthur James Krueger opened his shop on the south side of Queen East, between Cooper Street and Tannery Street East, under the name "Krueger Meats". Simply by calling telephone number 11, your meat order would be filled and delivered to your door, the same day, by horse and wagon. A. J., as he was commonly called, operated his shop until 1922, before taking up farming in the area and began a career trucking livestock for J. M. Schneider's while still operating a slaughter house on Townline Road.

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Hespelerites gave way to Krueger's cattle drive

Walter Gowing tells the tale of Hespeler farmer Arthur Krueger

by Walter Gowing Cambridge Times

Move over Galt, you can't top Hespeler.

A few weeks ago in this column there was a story about the late Sandy Baird, editor of the Record, calling Galt a one-horse town. Well, according to Jack Krueger of Hespeler, his town can do one better.

"My father owned a farm at the end of River Road," said Jack, "and he told me how he got his cattle from the farm to the Great Western Railway, later the Canadian National Railway station on Guelph Street in the late 1800s and early 1900s."

Proud of Hespeler, Jack was born here 88 years ago. His father, Arthur James Krueger, called Hespeler "the greatest little town in Ontario" and became a successful farmer, a drover and later a livestock trucker. The Kruegers carted mostly pigs and cattle for other farmers, calling the business Krueger & Sons Livestock Dealers.

Arthur opened a butcher shop in 1915 near the Presbyterian Church on Queen Street. He sold fresh meat from his own farm.

"Yeah, move along, doggy," yelled Jack's father as he drove a herd of cattle down River Road onto Queen Street, and a right turn down the hill at Guelph Street to a holding pen at the railway station.

The herd of beef cattle straggled over the near five-kilometre stretch from the Krueger farm to the railway station across the Speed River on Guelph Street.

Pedestrians had to give way to the mooing herd as their hoofs pounded the village's main street. It was a scene right out of an old western movie. John Wayne was nowhere in sight, but Arthur Krueger competently handled the cattle drive.

Once at the station, the cattle would be corralled into pens awaiting a train from Preston, when they would be loaded into cattle cars and shipped to the Toronto Stock Yards via the town of Guelph.

Near where the station once sat, you can see the old brick buildings of the Hespeler Furniture Co. Limited. Today, you can still see the brightly painted letters against the red bricks shouting out "Manufacturers of High Grade Furniture - Bedroom and Dining Room Furniture" like a ghost from the past.

A short distance downstream from the furniture factory is a railway bridge of wooden ties and steel rails, propped up by stone and cement. The trains crossed this bridge on their route from Preston and Galt to the Hespeler station.

Near this bridge there is a lovely bright yellow bench with a plaque inscribed "Precious are the memories of Nancy Ann Zvaniga, 1959-2018."

There is more to come from Jack Krueger.
Walter Gowing is a lifelong Cambridge resident, author and journalist who has been to 131 countries worldwide.

Gowing, W. (2018). Opinion | Hespelerites gave way to Krueger's cattle drive. CambridgeTimes.ca. Retrieved 17 October 2018, from https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/opinion-story/8968123-hespelerites-gave-way-to-krueger-s-cattle-drive/

Arthur — Ella Gertrude Duckworth. Ella (daughter of Henry Duckworth and Mary Ellen Louttit) was born 1 Mar 1895, West Garafraxa Twp., Wellington Co., Ontario; died 31 Jul 1978, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , New Hope Cemetery, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-196026

John — Barbara Sweeney. [Group Sheet]