The site was created by the gold rush of 1858, when the canoe route over the Harrison Lake, a route that bypassed the Fraser Canyon, hit the Fraser. At boom times of gold rush Lillooet should have had 20,000 inhabitants.
1912 the place received a railway connection by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In addition to some pioneer buildings, above the village stands the Hangingman Tree, a pine tree on which Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie allegedly hanged wrongdoers. In the former Anglican church is a small museum on the gold rush history and the construction of the railway. Opposite the museum stands the "0 Miles Stone", here the road began to the north, which led over places like 100 Mile House. Since its opening in 1981, the bridge over the Fraser bears the name The Bridge of the 23 Camels in memory of the 23 camels that were imported during the gold rush as transport animals, but did not prove themselves. The 1913 suspension bridge, a wooden and steel construction, has been called the "The Old Bridge" since and is closed to motorized traffic.