Exhibition Place

Our CNE guide covers the annual fair. This page is about the 197-acre grounds it happens on — land that's hosted a lot more than one event a year since it was first cleared.

From military land to exhibition grounds

The waterfront site now known as Exhibition Place was originally forested land cleared for military purposes, gradually repurposed for exhibitions through the 19th century. It's been home to the CNE since 1904, but the 197-acre grounds have carried far more than one annual fair — everything from the Molson Indy to the Caribana parade and the CHIN Picnic has used the site over the decades.

A century of exhibition architecture in one place

The grounds function as a genuine architectural timeline: heritage structures like the Horticulture Building and Automotive Building sit alongside newer additions like the Coca-Cola Coliseum (originally Ricoh Coliseum) and the Direct Energy Centre — completed in 1997 as the National Trade Centre, later renamed under a sponsorship deal, and now known as the Enercare Centre after a 2014 ownership change.

What's there today

Beyond the CNE itself, Exhibition Place is now year-round infrastructure for the city — BMO Field, home to both the Argonauts and Toronto FC, sits on the same grounds, alongside convention and trade-show space that keeps the site in near-constant use well outside the CNE's late-summer run.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Exhibition Place
• Toronto Journey 416 — CNE & Exhibition Place: Past & Present