B. 1877 D. 1960
Married Anna Henrich
Ford Kumpf was known as "Mr. Waterloo”, a great promoter of his town and a highly respected citizen. He was born in the home that was once the residence of Abraham Erb, the first resident in Waterloo. Ford Kumpf joined the Dominion Life Assurance Co. as a junior clerk in 1895 but left in 1900 to become a newspaper reporter. A year later he became manager of the Berlin-Waterloo Street Railway Co.. He had been present as a lad when his Father Mayor Christian Kumpf officially opened the trolley line in 1889. As well, during this time he acted as Clerk/Treasurer for the town of Wat and for a while was also manager of the Wat P.U.C. In 1909, after his dad’s death, he took his father’s place on the Board of Directors of Dominion Life. He climbed the ladder of authority quickly being appointed assistant manager of the Company in 1915; Managing director in 1919 and from 1945-1949 its President. Mr. Kumpf was a [illegible] public-spirited citizen and was a patron of every public campaign that was held in the Waterloo community. Summing up his life’s work his obituary writer stated that “thousands remember Mr. Kumpf for his leadership in community welfare, his business acumen, and for his personal charity, good humour and sharp wit.”
Sources:
1. Marg Rowell et al, Welcome to Waterloo
2. Vertical File, “Kumpf”, Kitchener Public Library
3. Kitchener-Waterloo Record, June 25, 1957.
4. Waterloo Historical Society, 1961, Vol. 48
5. The Town of Waterloo, J.P. Joffray.
6. 75th Anniversary, Dominion Life.
Ford S. Kumpf Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Ford S. Kumpf from the Ellis Little Papers. This biography has been transcribed exactly as written. Ellis Little was a local historian, who was the principal of Elizabeth Ziegler Public School.On his retirement, he invested much of his time in researching and writing about Waterloo's history. The Ellis Little Papers consist of extensive notes, papers and historical works.
- Notes
- Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see the transcribed text. To see the original document, please visit the Ellis Little Local History Room at the Main Branch of the Waterloo Public Library
- Date Of Event
- 1877-1960
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Kumpf, Ford ; Kumpf, Christian ; Erb, Abraham ; Henrich, Anna ; Kumpf, Anna
- Corporate Name(s)
- Dominion Life Assurance Company ; Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.118
- Collection
- Ellis Little Papers: Men and Women of Our Past
- Language of Item
- English
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Location of Original
- Ellis Little Papers
- Contact
- Waterloo Public LibraryEmail:askus@wpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:35 Albert Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 5E2
- Full Text
