The markets are the basic urban facilities for maintaining daily life. Although the urban structure changed rapidly and the population quickly concentrated in the city, the markets remained traditional and backward. To solve various problems in the small excess markets, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had pushed ahead with the market modernization plan since 1967. The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of establishing the market modernization plan and the progress of this project, and to identify the historical meaning of this plan. The results of this study as follows; The market modernization plan aimed to modernize market operation system as well as buildings, and the Government was able to achieve its first goal by enforcing the construction of high-rise buildings, as the markets were newly built with the relatively large scaled fireproof structures. Despite its various limitations, these markets were also regarded as the model of the modern market.