John Steckle

John Steckle, who graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1920, was one of the best known and most successful farmers in the Waterloo Region. He was born in the house built by his grandfather, a Swiss Mennonite minister, and was living in it raising purebred Suffolk sheep when he died. He raised purebred livestock, Holstein cattle, Yorkshire pigs and Morgan horses.

The first president of the Waterloo Holstein Association, he helped found the Waterloo Cattle Breeders Association, was a director of the Canadian Holstein Friesian Association, a member of the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, the Waterloo County Ratepayers Association and the Children’s Aid Society.

He donated a sugar maple bush to the City of Kitchener, which has been kept in its natural state, and in the spring is carpeted with trilliums. In 1977 he donated and helped finance the moving of the historic Sam Bricker barn from his farm to Doon Pioneer Village.