Berlin, Ontario, changed its name to Kitchener by referendum in May and
June 1916. Named in 1833 after the capital of Prussia and later the
German Empire, Berlin was heavily German-Canadian, and its residents
enjoyed a blend of British and German culture. The name Berlin became
unsavoury for residents after Great Britain and Canada's entry into the
First World War, as German Canadians experienced increasing anti-German
sentiment. In a vote characterized by intimidation and high voter
turnout, the 19 May 1916 referendum on changing the name narrowly
passed; a second vote to choose the new name saw low turnout. The vote
settled on Kitchener, named for British field marshal War Secretary Lord
Kitchener. The city was officially renamed on 1 September 1916. After
the war, the city experienced a decline in its German culture with
German Canadians being culturally assimilated into the broader Canadian
identity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_to_Kitchener_name_change>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
The first privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War,
the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, was fought near Cape May, New Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Turtle_Gut_Inlet>
1864:
A passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the
Richelieu River near present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, killing as
many as 99 people and injuring 100 others in Canada's worst railway
accident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St-Hilaire_train_disaster>
1914:
During the second day of anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo (aftermath
pictured), numerous buildings owned by ethnic Serbs were vandalized and
looted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Serb_riots_in_Sarajevo>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
citerior:
(literary) Chiefly in place names: situated on the nearer side.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/citerior>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man can draw a free breath who does not share with other men a
common and disinterested ideal. Life has taught us that love does not
consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the
same direction. There is no comradeship except through union in the same
high effort.
--Antoine de Saint Exupéry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry>