St. James-Assiniboia, Winnipeg

St. James-Assiniboia is a large community in the western section of Winnipeg. It is most often referred to as simply "St. James" and consists of the neighbourhoods of Old St. James, Deer Lodge, Silver Heights, Birchwood, Sturgeon Creek, Woodhaven, Heritage Park, Kirkfield Park, Westwood, Crestview, St. Charles, and Brooklands.

It is primarily residential, and is mainly a middle class area but there are poorer pockets in the eastern part of St. James, in Brooklands, and in St. Charles, and wealthier areas near the St. Charles Country Club, and along the Assiniboine River. There is some industrial development in the Murray Industrial Park in the north central part of the neighbourhood and near the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport which is located in St. James. There is substantial commercial development along Portage Avenue, the area's main thoroughfare, and near the western edge of the community near the Perimeter Highway, where the Unicity Shopping Mall once stood. Although the Polo Park area is not considered part of St. James-Assiniboia for census purposes, it is considered part of the district of St. James on many maps.[1]

Historically, the area was a farming community along the north bank of the Assiniboine River populated by an Anglo-Métis, or mixed Scottish/English and aboriginal population, compared to the French-speaking Métis people who settled further upriver at St. François Xavier, Manitoba and along the east banks of the Assiniboine River.

In 1853 the Church of England was given a grant of land from the Hudson's Bay Company; this land was named St. James Parish.[2] Before the province of Manitoba was created in 1870 the area was governed by the Council of Assiniboia (1835–1870).[2] After the creation of Manitoba by the purchase of land from the Hudson's Bay Company by the Dominion Government of Canada, the area of the Parish of St. James was administered by the Province of Manitoba; municipal incorporation soon followed.[2] When Treaty 1 was signed in 1871 with the Chippewa (Anishinabe) and Cree Indigenous Peoples, settlement into the region increased and municipal development likewise accelerated.[2] The area eventually became the City of St. James, the RM of Assiniboia, and the Village of Brooklands.

These communities' development as residential suburbs of Winnipeg began in the early 20th century and was greatly enhanced by the extension of streetcar service to Deer Lodge in 1903, the opening of Assiniboine Park in 1904 and its location along Portage Avenue, and proximity to Downtown Winnipeg.

By 1920 the eastern area of St. James and the Deer Lodge area were fully developed. In 1921 the Rural Municipality of St. James was incorporated after it was partitioned out of the Municipality of Assiniboia.[2] The more rural parts of the Rural Municipality of Assiniboia stayed in that municipality, while the more urban parts became the R.M. of St. James.[2] The area grew rapidly from 1945 to 1970 with the construction of the Silver Heights and Birchwood subdivisions in the 1940s and 1950s, and Westwood, Crestview, and St. Charles in the 1960s. In 1956 the R. M. of St. James became the City of St. James.[2] The three communities, just outside the City of Winnipeg, joined together in the 1960s; Brooklands was amalgamated into St. James in 1967, then the Rural Municipality of Assiniboia merged with St James in 1968 to form the City of St. James-Assiniboia.[2][3] In 1972, the City of St. James-Assiniboia was dissolved and formally amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg and eleven other municipalities to create a unicity.[2]

As the community was developed as far as the Perimeter Highway, Winnipeg's unofficial urban limit, by the early 1970s, St. James has seen very little development since that time. From 1971 to 2001 the population declined from 66,150 to 58,590 (source Statistics Canada). The population further declined to 57,855 as of the 2006 census.[4] However, by the 2011 census, it had increased to 61,764.

The City of Winnipeg Archives holds the St. James-Assiniboia Fonds.[2] It includes by-laws and minutes.[2]

• St. James-Assiniboia School Division
• St. James Street (Winnipeg)