The land that became Assiniboine Park was added to the City of Winnipeg by purchase in 1904. Frederick G. Todd, who was reputed to be Canada's best landscape architect, was commissioned to design the park. The park was developed in the English Landscape Style, which emphasizes large open meadows, curvilinear roads and free-form bodies of water. Assiniboine Park formally opened on Victoria Day in 1909 and soon became a popular destination for summer outings and games of croquet, tennis, lawn bowling and cricket. Today, the Park continues to be an important recreational and cultural site for Winnipeggers.

The original Assiniboine Park Conservatory was built in 1914. It is the oldest facility of its kind in Western Canada. In the style of 19th and early 20th century conservatories, the original Conservatory was composed primarily of glass and a framework of iron. It was replaced by a newer and less architecturally interesting building in 1969. To protect the plants, the new building was constructed around the old Palm House and the older building was dismantled from the inside.