It is located between the communities of Fauquier and Kitigan, 20km east of Kapuskasing along Ontario Highway 11 just south of René Brunelle Provincial Park.

The town is most famously referenced in the song "Fly" by the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, on their 2006 album World Container.

[3] Another suggestion is that the name came from the passengers on the Transcontinental Railway, who would be traveling for many miles through dark forests and when they came to the natural clearing near Moonbeam would be struck by the brilliance of the moon-lit snow.

The National Transcontinental Railway, connecting Quebec City with the Canadian Prairies, was completed by 1912 and provided new access to agricultural land and natural resources of northern Ontario.

This attracted colonizers from Montreal, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, and Saint-Jovite, to the Moonbeam area, looking for land to cultivate or mine.