[7] European settlement from Ontario and the British Isles began in 1882 before the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the site of the town,[8] and "the town's name honours Pasco du Pre Grenfell, a railway company official.

Eminent provincial academics, lawyers, medical doctors, lieutenant-governors, musicians and artists either came from or spent time working in Grenfell.

Currently the mayor is Rod Wolfe, and is serving with councillors Constance MacKenzie, Corey Thiessen, Ken Hamnett, Patty Cole, Tyler Tomlinson and Wes Overand.

[21] Provincially, Grenfell is within the constituency of Moosomin served by their Member of legislative assembly, the honourable Steven Bonk.

[22] The CPR employed hundreds of Chinese labourers on its incremental westward growth from Ontario to British Columbia throughout the 1880s.

Well into that time Grenfell was served by two such Chinese cafés and groceries which considerably contributed to the amenity of its business district.

A cinema on Front Avenue opposite the railway line continued in business until the 1960s, much beyond the time when such facilities had lapsed in other, larger prairie towns which were closer to urban metropoles.

No doubt this was in part because television transmission remained poor, Grenfell being a good 121 kilometres (75 mi) east of the broadcast locus in Regina.

However they might have regretted the lack of choice, community life was assuredly enhanced by first-release films being available only in the town cinema.

Access to both Regina and somewhat less quickly Winnipeg became vastly more convenient and fast with the great improvement in quality of the Trans-Canada Highway, even substantially eliminating the demand for train passenger transport.

As in virtually all prairie Canadian towns, the centre of commerce was from the beginning until very recently the grain elevators: assorted grain-buying companies maintained large depots to which farmers regularly brought wheat and other crops for sale whenever the centralised grain-buying board announced a quota.

The Grenfell Medical Centre is staffed with a doctor, emergency room, lab and x-ray department.

Shacks and tents appeared the following spring allowing the village to incorporate on April 12, 1894, with over 100 residents.

The line ran through Indian Head, Sintaluta, Wolseley, Summerberry then Grenfell and continues west through Oakshela, Broadview.

[28] Grenfell Elementary Community School offers pre-school to grade 6 with an enrolment near 160 pupils.

[31] The Presbyterians, Methodists and Church of England all held services in the CPR depot beginning in 1883 and townspeople of all denominations attended regardless of affiliation.

There were the monotonous, if not exhausting, trips in the heat of summer or the cold of winter made by the Rector of Grenfell, Frank V. Baker, arriving disappointed to find '... only a handful of people gathered' for a service.

[44] Grenfell's Adare Museum has "a wide collection of artifacts" and a "military display, historical map of the area and [a] 1949 Fargo fire truck."

[52] The Community Centre on Main Street has a substantial hall which has been used for presentation of university choir concerts with full audience indicating enthusiastic appreciation.