Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener

Also known as Old Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cemetery

Ontario Region: Waterloo City Ontario Kitchener

The present cemetery is approximately 15 acres in size and is bounded by Moore Avenue on the north, the Catholic School Board and Sacred Heart RC Church on the east, Mount Hope Waterloo on the west and the south is the back yards of residences on Brant Street.

Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener
128 Moore Avenue, Kitchener, Ontario

The Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener

by Garnet Richmond

This in an active, public cemetery operated by the City of Kitchener under the Parks and Recreation Department, Cemeteries Division. The records are computerized and available at the main cemetery office at 1541 Fischer-Hallman Rd., Kitchener ON  N2G 3W5 519-741-2880

The present cemetery is approximately 15 acres in size and is bounded by Moore Avenue on the north, the Catholic School Board and Sacred Heart RC Church on the east,  Mount Hope Waterloo on the west and the south is the back yards of residences on Brant Street.  

In 1868 the town of Berlin (Kitchener) purchased 2 acres from John Hoffman to establish a Municipal Cemetery. in 1871, an additional 10.25 acres were purchased to expand the cemetery. This was originally known as Greenbush Cemetery but in  1872 a bylaw changed the name to Mount Hope Cemetery. In this same year, the cemetery was surveyed, laid out in burial plots and readied for the sale of lots and subsequent burials.

In the early years the community there were some churches of various denominations around the Church and Benton Streets, most with their own cemetery beside the church. These cemeteries were eventually closed and many of the burials transferred to the “new” municipal cemetery, Mount Hope. These transfers took place around 1874.

At one time Kitchener Mount Hope Cemetery consisted of 2 cemeteries, the Roman Catholic Cemetery, operated by the Sacred Heart Church and the municipal Protestant cemetery. In about 1958 the City of Kitchener took over the Roman Catholic Cemetery and it all became known as Kitchener Mount  Hope Cemetery. [for practical purposes the two cemeteries have been recorded separately and Old Catholic one designated “Old Sacred Heart R.C.”

Over the years some of the grass roads in Mount Hope were filled in with grave lots to provide more burial space. This explains the mixture of the old with the new in some sections. There are also Catholic sections in the main Mount Hope part of the cemetery.  In very recent years the fence dividing the Mount Hope Waterloo Cemetery has been taken down and appears to be one large cemetery.  The cemetery is a favourite place for strollers and joggers using the shaded park-like area.