History
The International Centre is one of the few privately owned convention facilities in Canada. Opened in 1972, the centre's exhibit space nearly doubled from the original 260,000 square feet (24,000 m2) following a major expansion and renovation in 2002. The centre now features over 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of exhibit space and approximately 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of gross space which includes exhibit, meeting, office and retail space paying host to a variety of festivities annually.
Roots of the building stem back from Canada's aviation history during the 1950s when the site occupied the production of wings, rear fuselages and empennages to service DC-9 airliners. The area was purchased in 1971 from DeHavilland by a group of investors which eventually led to its purpose as a prominent multi-purpose facility.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)