The ferry terminal and former steamboat landing is on the north shore at the entrance to the West Arm of Kootenay Lake.

By the summer of 1890, one recipient, civil engineer Charles Wesley Busk, established a general store and laid out a townsite.

[4] Encountering a liquidity problem, Busk sold everything except a large house set in a few surrounding acres.

[2] In 1897, a lighthouse was erected,[9] By 1907, a wave of immigrants to the lake, aspiring to be commercial orchardists, revived the settlement.

[11] That year, Edith M. Middleton was the inaugural Balfour school teacher,[2] and Charles Holt built a log cabin general store, which housed the post office and telephone exchange.

[20] The Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) hotel planned for the bench was named as Riverside, but changed after strong local protest.

[11] The 50-room Hotel Kootenay Lake, set in formal gardens and serviced by an aerial tramway from the shoreline, opened in 1911.

[22] In 1947, Ken and Roberta (Bobby) Chandler built the Tillicum Inn, which contained a popular restaurant.

In 2007, a multi-million dollar renovation added a further 465 square metres (5,000 sq ft) and a rename to Dock 'n' Duck.

[18] Since relocating from Fraser's Landing in 1947, the western terminal for the Kootenay Lake Ferry[3] has become the commercial centre comprising a bakery, pub, marina restaurant, and two retail stores.

[12] Apart from the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure ferry terminal, Balfour has primarily been a retirement and weekend retreat community.

[29] In 2020, the Balfour and District Business and Historic Association acquired the Anglican church building, services having ceased the prior year.