The first settler in this area was Jacob Beck in 1854; he opened a large flour mill on the Spring Creek. A second flour mill, two saw mills, a flax mill, and an iron foundry also opened in the next twenty years. The settlement was originally called Weissenburg. The village of Baden founded and established in 1855, was originally named after an old bachelor living in the area. Jacob Beck, born in the Grand Duchy of Baden-Baden, Germany, settled in the village and later renamed Baden in 1854. Baden was also the birthplace of Sir Adam Beck, founder of Ontario's public hydroelectric system. By 1864, the town had a school and its population was 400. A historical plaque near Baden honours Christian Nafziger, an
Amish Mennonite from Munich, Germany, who arrived in 1822 with about seventy families. With assistance from local Mennonites, he was able to obtain the "German Block" (now Wilmot Township) from the government; many other Amish from Europe settled here. Baden is home to the historic
Castle Kilbride, built in 1877 by
James Livingston, co-founder of a successful linseed oil company, who went on to represent the area in the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the
House of Commons of Canada. The home was designed by architect David W. Gingerich, who also designed major projects such as the Mutual Life office block, the Waterloo Town Hall, and the governor's (jailer's) house at the
Waterloo County Gaol. In 1993, Castle Kilbride was purchased and restored by Wilmot Township, which spent $6.2 million on the project. The castle was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada in 1994 and Wilmot Township's administrative offices and council chamber are housed in an addition to the original building. Baden was also the home town of Sir
Adam Beck, who went on to pioneer hydroelectric power, The privately funded project was conceived of as a
Canada 150 project and has been met with repeated controversy. It was unanimously approved by Wilmot Township councillors in 2016 after attempts to install it in
Kitchener's
Victoria Park and on the campus of
Wilfrid Laurier University failed after public push back about the appropriateness of the project. As of June 2020, statues of
Robert Borden,
Kim Campbell,
William Lyon Mackenzie King,
John A. Macdonald, and
Lester B. Pearson have been installed. The statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first to be installed, was put in place June 2016. It had previously been installed on the Laurier campus, but was removed and relocated after concerns were raised about Macdonald's role in creating the
Canadian Indian residential school system. Controversy regarding the statue project was raised again in June 2020, following the dousing of Macdonald's statue in red paint, an act that coincided with the celebration of
National Indigenous Peoples Day. The incidents followed a number of similar occurrences across North America tied to calls for the
removal of monuments and memorials following the
murder of George Floyd in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Wilmot mayor, Les Armstrong, defended the Prime Ministers Path expressing frustration with people who failed to do their research about Macdonald, noting the prime minister had a number of
Indigenous friends.
Cree-
Métis educator
Lori Campbell challenged the ability of public statues to raise awareness about history due to lack of contextual information. Campbell positioned museums as better and safer spaces for these types of installations, calling their presence in open spaces "painful". ==Amenities==