In the late 19th century, a boxcar was located on a rail siding in what is now Barnwell.

It was used as a telegraph office for local settlers and the railroad, and the area was named Woodpecker.

In 1908, the area was renamed Bountiful to correspond to the local school district.

A short while later, it was renamed to Barnwell because another community already had the name of Bountiful.

[4] In the early 1900s migrating members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colonized Barnwell as well as other Southern Alberta areas.