The name of that square was given because of the wharf for bread loading, the Bread Exchange, the Bread factory and an elevator. The city was founded in 1586 and since that time there was the fortress in this area.

In honor of the 400 years anniversary the framework was built similar to one of the towers of the fortress.

The square was projected in the first plan of the city. In old times there was 3 churches: Staro-Preobrazhenskay, Smolenskaya God's Mother and Kazanskaya God's Mother. The first theatre was also built in this square. The square became the main bread-market of Povolzhjye at the second half of the XIX century.

In 1898 the building of the Bread Exchange was built according to the project of an architect A. Shcherbachev. The 2-storeyed building is made in neoclassical style, which was the main style of the society. The largest elevator in Europe was built in 1916 by Petrov's project.

The Khlebnaya square is a traffic square now. A lot of streets start here.