Banff
Hamlet
82 O
Approximately 90 km west of Calgary.
What we know for sure is, Banff National Park was established with its current boundaries
in 1930. It in turn took its name from the Canadian Pacific Railway station established in 1883 four kilometres east of its current location. Before 1930 the park had been known more generically as Rocky Mountains Park. By 1886 the government townsite was established and the CPR moved the station to the townsite. The name Banff stayed and the post office previously known as Mountain Park changed its name to Banff.
According to the stories that have come down through the generations the name was first suggested by Harry Sandison, a former local politician and chairman of the Parks Board who had been born in the town of Banff, Scotland. It is told the meeting at which the name Banff was decided included Dr. James Steward and Mr. MacTavish, who were both associated with the Hudson's Bay Company. Other meeting attendees included George Stephens and William C. Van Horne of the CPR & Donald Smith (later Lord Strathcona), noted entrepreneur, who was associated with both the HBC & CPR, and who was also from Banff in Scotland.
The real reason the name was chosen may be more mundane. In the early days, when railway stops were being planned, it was being done far away in the central offices of the company in the east. Banff was just one name of many. The name was applied in September of 1883 as a railway point located between Duthil and Sawback. That particular portion of track, from Calgary to Stephen just west of Lake Louise station (then called Laggan) was in operation by December 2 of 1883. In a study done by Parks Canada, it was determined that the person who was providing names for stations at that time was the CPR Land commissioner John MacTavish, noted. MacTavish was a Scotsman and when you compare some CPR main line stations from Winnipeg to Vancouver, where names had not already been established before the line's construction, they read like Johnson's Gazetteer of Scotland. No one knew at the time Banff was destined for great things.
Long before the arrival of Europeans, the first nation's people were aware of the area. Their names were detailed by Hugh Dempsey in his Indian Names for Alberta Communities,
published in 1969. In Blackfoot it is called Nato-oh-sis-koom, meaning "holy springs" and refers to the Cave and Basin Hot Springs. The Nakoda call it Minihapa and the Cree Nipika-Pakitik, both referring to the falls on Cascade Mountain. The Sarcee referred to it as Tsa-nidza meaning "in the mountains."
The village name Banff was made official 25 December 1905. Town status granted 1 January
1990.