Balgonie has a Subway restaurant, two gas stations, an outdoor pool, and an ice arena.

In 1882, the first train ran through the area on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and a post office was established in 1883.

[6] In 1884, Sir John Lister Kaye established a model farm near the railway in Balgonie, with the town being the easternmost point of the old 76 Ranch lands.

[6] One of Balgonie's most famous residents was William Wallace Gibson (1876–1965), who created the first Canadian-built airplane.

[8] Gibson was the subject of the 1991 stop-motion animated short The Balgonie Birdman, directed by Brian Duchscherer and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.