Unis have always been a bit out of the way, they are not 'sponsored by banks' they were sponsored by Churches and congregations, then the elite.
Waterloo was Waterloo College, a Lutheran Seminary, and grew out from there.
It was successful probably because it was very much focused on Tech, unlike most other schools, and didn't appeal to multi generational families, but 'anyone'. The local mennonites are also extremely good students, you don't hear about them, but they get good grades.
It's a great tech school, but one of the ugliesst, most sparse and uninspiring campuses imaginable. If we think of traditional Uni like an 'Ivy Campus' or 'Oxford' aesthetically - UW is like one of those 1960's, concrete block kind of Soviet Utilitarian places. I mean it could be worse.