Although an antecedent Red Deer district had existed in the Northwest Territories that covered much of central Alberta, it was split into Innisfail and Lacombe for the 1902 general election.

Red Deer elected Liberal candidate John Moore as its first MLA in 1905 over the town's founder, Leonard Gaetz.

He served the rest of the term but was also defeated in the following election by United Farmers candidate and former mayor of Red Deer George Smith.

Smith defended the seat in the 1926 and 1930 elections despite strong challenges from Gaetz and Conservative candidate William Ernest Payne.

The 1935 election saw "Bible Bill" Aberhart's Social Credit sweep into power unexpectedly, with Alfred Hooke defeating Payne in Red Deer.

Due to a boundary redistribution in 1971, he ran for re-election in Innisfail, but Social Credit lost both seats as the Progressive Conservatives swept to power.

When he retired in 1979, Norman Magee defended the seat for the PCs, becoming the first Red Deer MLA from the same political party as his predecessor.

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

[9] 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.