Established by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1884, Suffield was named after Charles Harbord, 5th Baron Suffield who married in 1854, Cecilia Annetta, the sister of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, who assisted in financing the railway.

[4] Near the beginning of the 20th century, Suffield experienced rapid growth arising from the construction of the CPR.

One of the larger buildings in the area at the time, the 32-room Alamo Hotel was constructed in 1910 by W.R. Martin, superintendent of CPR oil and gas exploration, A.M. Grace, chief engineer of the Southern Alberta Land Company, and A.P.

[5] A reporter from the Medicine Hat News wrote on 20 Oct 1910, "The most beautiful hotel alongside the CPR from Winnipeg to Calgary, stands on the prairie within a stone's throw of one of the biggest gas wells in the Medicine Hat district in what promises to be, in the near future, the city of Suffield".

The stops on the line were Suffield, Agatha, Hlingworth, Ronolane, Cecil, Armelgra, Scope, Grantham, Vauxhall, Retlaw, Enchant, Travers, Lomond, Armada, Pageant, Milo, Qeenstown, Shouldice and Arrowwood.