History has that 1871 was the beginning of the village of Canoas, when the first section of the railway that would link Porto Alegre to Sao Leopoldo was inaugurated. Canoas was then part of the municipalities of Gravatai and Sao Sebastiao do Caí. Soon large farms would lose space to small properties.
After obtaining city status, Canoas experienced rapid growth, especially after 1945. At that time, it would be called a "cidade-dormitorio" (Portuguese for "bedroom city"), because thousands of people would commute to neighboring Porto Alegre to work. However, de-industrialisation in Porto Alegre, the setting-up of numerous manufacturing plants in Canoas and a strong demographic growth have reverted that situation and nowadays Canoas has the second highest GDP in the state of Rio Grande do Sul
