Jacob Y. Shantz

Jacob Y. Shantz, who was born in Berlin in 1822, a farmer and operator of a sawmill, was responsible for the erection of a building for the market which became famous through the years. He built the 1869 Market House in which the basement was the market; the first storey the municipal office, the council chamber, the post office and the library and the second storey was a public meeting hall. In this building he served for one month as mayor in 1822.

Shantz also carved a place for himself in Canadian history through his work in arranging settlement of the Russian Mennonites in the Canadian West.