John Motz
From The Waterloo Way Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
John Motz (1831-1911) was a mayor of Berlin and one of the founders of The Record along with Frederick Rittinger. Motz and Rittinger started the publishing firm known as "Rittinger & Motz." The company published several newspapers and eventually acquiring ownershp of the newspaper that would become The Record.
History
John Motz emigrated to Canada from Diedorf, Germany in 1848. He held several jobs as a farmhand and shingle-cutter and held an apprenticeship as a tailor. In 1859, he entered into a partnership with Frederick Rittinger. They started the publishing firm known as "Rittinger & Motz" and published a series of newspapers beginning with the weekly Berliner Journal, which ran from 1859 to 1899 and which established itself as one of the principal German newspapers in Canada. By 1863, the Journal had 1,000 subscribers.
In 1896, three newspapers existed in the city of Kitchener (then Berlin): the Berlin Daily Telegraph, the Berlin Daily Record and Moyer's Daily News. By 1897, the Berlin Daily Record and Moyer's Daily News had merged to become the Berlin News Record, run by William (Ben) Uttley, a local historian. Retiring in October 1919, Uttley sold the newspaper to John Motz' son, W.J. Motz and his partner William D. Euler, who renamed it The Kitchener Daily Record.
Motz lived until 1911, but retired from the newspaper in 1899. Both founders were succeeded by their respective sons: Rittinger by two sons, Herman and John; Motz, by William John, or "W.J."
In 1922, the Daily Record took over the Berlin Daily Telegraph, leaving it as the only newspaper serving the community. Motz and Euler fought over control of the newspaper with Motz eventually winning majority interest. Euler sold his stock to Southam Co. in 1953, leaving William Motz's son, John E. Motz, the sole director of the daily.
On January 1, 1948, John E. Motz changed the name of the newspaper once again, to The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, a name which remained until the latest change, to The Record, in 1994. In 1962 it became the first company in Canada to use plastic sleeves to protect newspapers bound for rural addresses.
Ownership had been in the hands of the Motz family until 1990, when the paper was sold to Southam in a $90 million deal. Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. took a controlling interest in Southam during the period when it owned The Record. The paper was acquired by Sun Media in 1998, but Sun itself was bought by Quebecor soon after, and The Record was sold to Torstar before the end of the year.
Community Involement
- Elected to town council in 1870
- Mayor of the Town of Berlin from 1880-1881
- Appointed sheriff of Waterloo County in 1900
- Served on the High School and Public Library Boards
- Founding member of the Separate School Board and the Catholic Cemetery Board
- Founder and president of Kitchener's first horticultural society
The Record's website http://news.therecord.com/
References
- Record of Achievement (special to The Record) - http://www.therecord.com/record_of_achievement/achieve_05040117634.html
- Wikipedia Entry for The Record - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Record_%28Waterloo_Region%29
- Collection of Motz Family Papers at UW - http://library.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/SpecColl/archives/motz.html
