Otto Klotz
Inducted In
1972
The first free public school in Upper Canada was established in what had been Preston’s 1839 school on Queen Street, Preston by Otto Klotz, in 1848. This native of Kiel, Denmark (later West Germany) came to Preston in the early 1830s, became a Provincial Land Surveyor, and later a magistrate.
He was a fervent advocate of a free public school system and was secretary of the school board from 1847 to 1892. In the 1850s he was School Commissioner of the District of Wellington. He prepared German grammar and test books which were used in the public schools of Berlin and Preston and later translated into English.
Klotz also operated the Central Hotel and a distillery. He was elected Honourary Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Ontario.