Though its history goes back much further, it wasn't until 1880 that St. Boniface was incorporated as a municipality - after a provincial law made incorporation mandatory. It was reclassified as a town in 1883 and reincorporated as a city in 1908, at which point it was the fifth largest city in Western Canada. Though St. Boniface was and continues to be the home of the largest French community in Western Canada, almost all official correspondence was conducted in English by the end of the First World War. St. Boniface developed as an industrial community, due in part to the presence of multiple rail lines. Industries like meat packing and construction brought workers to the city's eastern edge and companies like Shell, CN, CP, Ladco, and Canada Packers were big employers. In an effort to streamline municipal government, the City of St. Boniface joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamating with the City of Winnipeg in 1972.