Waterloo in Waterloo Region, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)

Dominion Life Assurance Company

Photographed by Tim Boyd, April 4, 2025

1. Dominion Life Assurance Company Marker

Inscription. It was on this site in march, 1888 that the Dominion Life Assurance Company was first conceived. Mr. Thomas Hilliard, local teacher and journalist, met here at Simon Snyder's Drugstore with other elite businessmen of the community. The gentlemen; Mr. L.E. Bowman, MP and President of the Mercantile and Fire insurance Company; Mr. P.H. Sims, Secretary of the Mercantile; Mr.John Shuh, President of Waterloo Wooden Manufacturing Company and Simon Snyder owner of the drugstore and an agent of The Great North West Telegraph Company formulated the concept for a new stock life insurance company on that afternoon. The company, Dominion Life, received its charter July 12, 1889, and at the first meeting Thomas Hilliard was appointed Managing Director.

This plaque was erected to commemorate the historic meeting and to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the City of Waterloo in 1982.

Erected 1982.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1888.

Location. 43° 27.902′ N, 80° 31.33′ W. Marker is in Waterloo, Ontario, in Waterloo Region. It is at the intersection of King Street South and Era Street East, on the right when traveling north on King Street South. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4 King St S, Waterloo ON N2J 1N9, Canada. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Huron-Perth-Waterloo-Wellington Area

and in Southwestern Ontario.

It is also in Central Canada.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony,

the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and Rupert’s Land.

Other nearby markers.

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Kuntz/ Carling/ Labatt Breweries (approx. 0.4 kilometers away); The One Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Waterloo as a Village (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Abraham Erb (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Log Schoolhouse (approx. 0.7 kilometers away); Mutual Life Head Office / Siège Social de la Mutuelle du Canada, Compagnie d'Assurance Sur la Vie (approx. 0.9 kilometers away); The First Lutheran Seminary in Canada (approx. one kilometer away); Wilfrid Laurier University / Université Wilfrid Laurier (approx. one kilometer away); Peter H. Roos (approx. 1.3 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Waterloo.

Also see . . . Dominion Life (Wikipedia).

At the company's first meeting on 12 July 1889, Trow was appointed president and Hilliard was appointed managing director. The company's second employee was Hillard's secretary, Emma Roos (1861–1917), who would remain with Dominion until her death. Hillard and Roos set up their offices on the second floor of the Waterloo Mutual Fire Insurance Building at 28 King Street North. Within seven weeks of the company being granted its charter, Hilliard signed up 97 policy holders, and in the first year, the company had $231,000 of insurance in force in 158 policies. By 1890, this had reached $592,000
Photographed by Tim Boyd, April 4, 2025

2. Dominion Life Assurance Company Marker
of insurance in 374 policies.

(Submitted on April 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario.)

Photographed by Tim Boyd, April 4, 2025

3. Dominion Life Assurance Company Marker

Dominion Life Assurance Company Offices, ca 1930 image. Click for full size.

4. Dominion Life Assurance Company Offices, ca 1930

Source: Waterloo Public Library (public domain)

Credits. This page was last revised on April 7, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. This page has been viewed 144 times since then and 38 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 7, 2025, by Tim Boyd of Hamilton, Ontario. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.