Balcarres began as a post office. It opened on 1 April 1884, when the area was still part of the North-West Territories, long before Saskatchewan became a province in 1905. The name comes from the first postmaster, Balcarres Crawford, who served at the neighbouring community of Indian Head.
The town sits in southern Saskatchewan, about 85 kilometres northeast of Regina, where Highways 10, 22, 310 and 619 meet. It lies close to the Fishing Lakes, with Fort Qu'Appelle to the west, Abernethy to the southeast and Ituna to the north. The File Hills First Nations of Little Black Bear, Peepeekisis, Okanese and Star Blanket are located to the northeast.
Today Balcarres has a grocery store, inn, pharmacy, bank and restaurants. Terminal 22, a large inland grain terminal, stands west of town along the Canadian National Railway line. The town also has a hospital and senior citizens home, the Balcarres Integrated Care Centre, and a school that serves children from Balcarres, Abernethy and the File Hills reserves.
Among the people connected to the town are James Garfield Gardiner, a premier of Saskatchewan and federal cabinet minister, and Walter Deiter and Noel Starblanket, both chiefs of the National Indian Brotherhood.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Balcarres, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.