Exchange District

On September 27, 1997, the Federal Minister of Canadian Heritage (The Honourable Sheila Copps) declared the original heart of the city of Winnipeg, the Exchange District, a National Historic Site. On this date, the Exchange District, a twenty city block area comprised of approximately 150 heritage buildings joined the ranks of a handful of other urban areas which have also received this distinction.

The District contains a range of architecturally significant resources that speak to the city’s key economic role in the west and the collective character of these built resources is distinctive and relatively intact. The importance of the area can also be expanded to include the city’s role with respect to architecture, grain trade, civic development and labour.

The area is designated an historic district of national significance because it illustrates the city’s key role as a centre of grain trade and whole sale trade, finance and manufacturing in two historically important periods in the western development – between 1880 and 1900 when Winnipeg became the gateway to Canada’s West and between 1900 and 1913, when the city’s growth made it the region’s metropolis.

Photo Credit: Photo by https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Downtown_Winnipeg_and_the_Exchange_District,_Manitoba,_Canada_-_20110530.jpg

Text Credit: Site description from: http://www.exchangedistrict.org/tours-attractions/historic-exchange/