The district was named after the town of Gleichen, Alberta, that is situated north of Siksika Nation.

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta.

The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.

[2] Gleichen also voted on question B1 with just 19 residents lying inside the electoral district within the corporate limits of Calgary.

[5] Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.