How Red Deer Got Its Name - The City of Red Deer

Red Deer became a Town in 1901 and was incorporated as a City in 1913.

Because of the large herds of elk or red deer in this area, it was known as elk or red deer country by the first nations. The Cree called the district Waskasoo, while the Blackfoot called it Ponoka (their words for elk) country. The first Europeans saw that the elk of Western Canada were very similar to the red deer of Scotland. Hence the new name for the region, the river and ultimately the City. There is no record of who first used the name Red Deer. As late as 1880, some explorers still referred to the Red Deer River as the Elk River.

The name Red Deer was originally used for the Crossing settlement, which was first settled around 1882. It was located approximately three miles upstream from the present site of the city at an easily fordable location. When the railway began to operate a regular train service in 1891, the fording area was no longer as important and the settlement moved to Red Deer's present location. Although the railroad town site was some distance to the east, the Calgary – Edmonton Railway Company decided to use Red Deer for the new hamlet.

For a brief time, the Saskatchewan Land and Homestead Company, which owned 202,000 acres of land around the city, wanted to use the name Deerford for the original town site where Fort Normandeau is located today. The name never caught on.