Engineering Institute of Canada. Waterloo-Wellington Branch : The Canadian Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1887 and headquartered in Montreal. Its primary objective was "to facilitate the acquirement and interchange of professional knowledge among its members." To meet this objective, the Society's by-laws permitted the establishment of branches. By 1910 there were branches in Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The Society's name was changed in 1918 to the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), but the branch structure remained the same. By 1923, the number of branches had increased to 24 and remained at this level until the end of World War II, when their number rose to 28 in 1947, 50 in 1958, and peaked in the low 60s in the early 1960s. However, by the mid-1960s, the EIC's fortunes had begun to decline financially and in membership. Some of the smaller branches closed down while others amalgamated. Semi-autonomous constituent societies for civil, mechanical and other engineering disciplines were created in the early 1970s and they established their own branches, some of which were in competition with the EIC ones. This dual arrangement lasted until the mid-1980s when the EIC branch structure disappeared.
The Kitchener Branch of the EIC was formally inaugurated as the 31st branch and received its charter in October 1949. It drew its members from the counties of Waterloo and Wellington and the cities of Kitchener, Guelph and Galt. According to its by-laws, its objectives were: to promote the objects and interests of the Institute; to promote the technical and general interests of its members through the arrangement of suitable regular meetings and programs and the encouragement of the presentation of papers and to provide means through which the members might cooperate for their mutual benefit and the benefit of the community. Branch affairs were administered by an executive committee. Membership reports showed 58 members in 1951 and 95 in1953. By 1962 there were 225, which was its highest level.
By the 1970s Kitchener Branch was joining with other organizations, such as the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario and the Universities of Waterloo and Guelph to hold technical activities. By 1973-74, its name had changed to the Waterloo-Wellington Branch of the EIC. The Waterloo-Wellington Branch ceased operations in 1983 and transferred its records to the National Archives of Canada.
