Founded in 1913, the town is primarily an agricultural, business, and government administration centre serving communities and rural areas within surrounding Westlock County.

Westlock is located approximately 85 km (53 mi) north of Edmonton, Alberta's provincial capital and Canada's sixth largest census metropolitan area.

Westlock sits within the humid continental climate zone, on the northern edge of the aspen parkland belt, a once heavily treed region that was cleared for agriculture at the turn of the 20th century.

The mean annual precipitation averaged from one meteorological station within the county measured 468 millimetres (mm), based on data from 1980 to 1990.

[6] Prior to European settlement, the area around Westlock was inhabited by First Nations people, notably the Cree.

Although the fur trade had been active in Alberta since 1754 when Anthony Henday explored the area, the Westlock district was not mentioned in writing until David Thompson came through in April 1799.

White settlement did not begin until 1902 at that time centred on a rural community about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of present-day Westlock.

There was also a post office but this was closed in 1911 when Conservative Party came to power and fired many Liberals from the postal service.

In 1914, the Methodist church building was picked up and moved down the road to Westlock, an indication of the new settlement's ascendancy over the older one.

[citation needed] On February 22, 2024, Westlock residents narrowly passed a popular initiative prohibiting the flying of flags related to "political, social, or religious movements or commercial entities" on municipal property, and the painting of zebra crossings in any colours other than white.

[10] The referendum was criticized by Mayor Jon Kramer, councilmen, and other politicians for prohibiting the official display of pride flags and the painting of rainbow crossings.

Population and dwelling unit figures presented within are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 by Statistics Canada.

The main employers in town include the hotels and inns that cater to oilpatch workers, the farm implement dealerships, and some small manufacturing such as Wabash Mfg.

As such, Westlock is the central town of the region where rural families do business, send their children to school, and obtain government services.

Of increasing importance to the community since the Second World War has been highway traffic heading to oilfields in Northern Alberta.

Recent retail developments have shifted from the railway era downtown to larger malls and businesses along the highway.

Westlock's current MP is Arnold Viersen, representing the riding of Peace River-Westlock.