The City of St. James-Assiniboia, Manitoba, was incorporated in 1968, the product of a merger between the City of St. James and the Rural Municipality of Assiniboia, and was dissolved in 1972 when it joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamation with the City of Winnipeg. The City of St. James grew out of the Rural Municipality of St. James, which had been partitioned out of the Municipality of Assiniboia and incorporated in 1921 (in effect, separating the urban and rural parts of the Municipality of Assiniboia, with St. James representing the urban portion). The Rural Municipality of St. James, became the City of St. James in 1956 and merged with the Town of Brooklands in 1967. The mandate was to provide municipal services to citizens of the area.

The name “St. James” originated in 1853 when the Church of England received a grant of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company and formed the Parish of St. James. Prior to creation of the Province of Manitoba in 1870, the area was administered by the Council of Assiniboia (1835-1870). Following the Dominion Government of Canada’s purchase of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869, the newly formed Province of Manitoba had jurisdiction over the area and began the process of municipal incorporation. Once Treaty 1 was signed in 1871, settlement in the region increased, as did the process of municipal development. The name “St. James” continues as an electoral ward within the City of Winnipeg.