Description

Markets came late to Charlottetown.
The few hundred people who formed
the population of the village before
1800 depended on British imports and
the produce of their own gardens to
maintain their families. A site for a
market had been reserved at the waterfront
when the town was laid out in
1768, but building was delayed for
several reasons. Provision for administrative
and judicial accommodation took
precedence in planning public buildings.
Farmers, moreover, required time
to establish themselves before producing
a marketable surplus; and once
established they needed roads to bring
their goods into town. Thus, it was only
after a Court House and Assembly
building had been constructed in 1812
that attention was focussed on a market
house to end the precarious supply
afforded by the irregular visits of country
vendors. The 1813 market was the first
of four buildings which were to serve the
Island capital for the next 145 years.