Centennial, Cambridge

Centennial is a calm residential neighbourhood on the west side of Hespeler, just a few minutes from the village core. Weaver Park, on Weaver Street, has a playground under the trees, and the Schiedel Woodlot keeps a pocket of forest close to home, cool and green in summer. On fall evenings, the lights of the football field at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School shine across the neighbourhood. Bechtel Park adds more open space. The shops and restaurants of Hespeler Village are about a kilometre and a half away.

The 2021 census counted about 800 homes in Centennial. About two in three are single detached houses. Apartment buildings under five storeys make up about one in six, and row houses about one in nine. Half the homes were built between 1961 and 1980, and about three in ten in 1960 or earlier. About one in nine were built between 1981 and 1990.

Grand River Transit's 51 Hespeler route and the 203 Maple Grove route serve the neighbourhood. The Pinebush stop on the 302 ION Bus, which runs to Fairway ION station in Kitchener, is about 1.6 km away, and Stage 2 ION, which the Region has approved and is now designing, plans a Pinebush station about 1.8 km away. Weaver Street, Winston Boulevard and Holiday Inn Drive are the main streets, and Highway 401 has an interchange at Hespeler Road (exit 282) close by.

Bechtel Park covers about 1.1 hectares, with a playground, and Weaver Park, at 188 Weaver Street, has a playground. The Schiedel Woodlot covers about 3 hectares. The neighbourhood has football fields, a track, a ball diamond, a soccer field and a basketball court. Centennial Public School, on Weaver Street, and Jacob Hespeler Secondary School, on Holiday Inn Drive, are both in the neighbourhood. The Hespeler branch of the Cambridge Public Library is about 1.4 km away.

• Centennial Public School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for Centennial, on Weaver Street.
• Hespeler Public School — Grades 7 and 8. The middle school, with French immersion.
• Jacob Hespeler Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school, on Holiday Inn Drive, in the neighbourhood.
• Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The nearest Catholic elementary school, about 2.1 km away, with French immersion from Grade 1.
• St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The nearest Catholic secondary school, about 3.3 km away.