Grenfell grew out of the westward push of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Settlers from Ontario and the British Isles began arriving in 1882, even before the railway reached the site, and the railway came through that October. The town is named for Pasco du Pre Grenfell, an early shareholder and prominent official of the railway company. Germans followed soon after the first settlers, and a post office opened in 1883.
Shacks and tents went up the spring after the tracks arrived, and by April 1894 the village had over 100 residents and incorporated. It became a town in 1911. Churches came early: Presbyterians, Methodists and Anglicans first held services in the railway depot in 1883, and the first church was built the next year. The Mechanic's Library Institute began in 1882 and is one of the province's oldest libraries. A hospital opened in 1915, and the Royal North-West Mounted Police set up a detachment the same year.
Many Chinese railworkers who built the CPR stayed on to run cafés and groceries, and two such cafés were still on Main Street in the 1960s. Grain elevators were long the centre of local commerce, and the town had a flour mill by 1915. Early settlers also brought a love of sport: the Saskatchewan Soccer Association was founded in Grenfell in 1905, and one of Canada's first polo clubs started there.
Grenfell was home to Olympic long jump medallist Calvin Bricker and to premier William J. Patterson, and Sir Richard Stuart Lake homesteaded nearby. Today the Adare Museum, in a 1904 Queen Anne revival house, shows off the town's history.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Grenfell, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.