After 40 years, Kevin Swayze keeps tripping over new pieces of the puzzle he calls the history of Cambridge, Ontario.
“Over and over again, I’ve talked with newcomers baffled by why locals still say Hespeler, Preston, and Galt five decades after the Cambridge was created in 1973.”
“I’m less baffled now. Today, I’m proud to say I live in Ontario’s Biggest Small Town – times three.”
Kevin started learning about Cambridge in 1984, when he stopped by a variety store in Preston looking for the local newspaper and its classified section. He was a college student looking for an apartment.
Kevin learned plenty about Cambridge over the next four decades – and continues to learn there’s much more to learn about local history. Like why there’s ship’s anchor apparently dropped at random near Mill Creek in Soper Park.
Kevin grew up on a farm south of Hamilton and didn’t know much of any local history when he arrived in Cambridge.
Nothing about the Six Nations Aboriginal settlement of the northern Grand River Valley, before it was sold to and subdivided by European settlers in the early 1800s.
Nothing about the Great Flood of 1974 – or any of the dozens of floods recorded before it.
Nothing about why Kevin always ended up stuck in traffic at the wonky Delta intersection no matter where he was heading across town.
The first place he looked for an apartment was in the old Cambridge Daily Reporter newspaper. Two years later, after graduating from the journalism program at Conestoga College, that’s where he landed a full-time job as a reporter/photographer.
“The Reporter offered me a crash course in local history. Readers weren’t afraid to call me up with questions or corrections. Sometimes both,” Kevin says.
“I’m blessed that so many people shared their memories with me over the years to help me better understand my adopted hometown. I’m still learning.”
Kevin was the last editor of the Reporter when it closed in 2003.
Cambridge is a town that’s sometimes hard for outsiders to figure out, Kevin says.
“I’ve learned how locals love their local history, and old-town rivalries still echo five decades after the forced amalgamation of 1973,” Kevin says.
“I’ve lived in Preston, east Galt, and West Galt. I married into Hespeler to get my visitor’s visa to travel north of Highway 401.”
Kevin’s mission with CambridgeGuide.ca is sharing what he’s learned so far about his adopted hometown.
“I want to help newcomers and people born after amalgamation understand a city with multiple memories that aren’t always obvious. And I want to give long-time residents somewhere to share and talk about their stories.”
Kevin remains open to questions about Cambridge, like he was when answering the phone in the old Cambridge Reporter newsroom on Ainslie Street.
Drop him a message or a comment and see what history he can dig up for you, too.