Many a times, the people of Stony Plain are asked the question: "Is there an 'e' in Stony Plain and how did the name 'Dog Rump Creek' originate?"

The "Plain" of course refers to the fertile farm and grazing land complete with streams and lakes, which stretches from Edmonton to about six miles west of the present town of Stony Plain.

It is the word "Stony" which caused so much confusion over the years. In the early 1700s, a small band of Stoney Indians from the Dakotas arrived in the foothills east of the Rocky Mountains, between the Bow and Athabasca rivers. The entire area west of Fort Edmonton was called the Stoney Plains due to the Stoney Indians and the fertile plains they liked to camp on.

In 1886, a carpenter and cabinet maker John Leod McDonald moved his family to the area of Stoney plains, into a home he had built close to a creek flowing out of Dog Lake. The natives called this creek Atim Ozwe Sipi (Cree: Dog creek or Dog rump creek), a pictorial representative of a bend in the creek resembling a dog's rump.

In 1892, Mr. McDonald applied for a post office to be named for the region, "Stony Plain". (On purpose he dropped the 'e' from Stoney in order to discourage the notion that the area was strewn with stones) .

A problem arose. Stony Plain was the name used for the region, but it was also claimed by a settlement nearby - Spruce Grove today. The current town site was then popularly called "Dog Creek" or Dog Rump Creek", names Mr. McDonald didn't like. McDonald persevered and won the name Stony Plain, not only for his post office, but for the town as well.

In 1906, a private company called the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific Railway was building a line nineteen miles west from Edmonton, to Stony Plain. It was completed in 1907. However, it missed Stony Plain by more than a country mile. The town fathers decided to move their small community to the railway to establish a new town site. Using twenty teams of horses, they rolled the buildings, taking logs from the back and laying then down in front of the structure, to the present site of Stony Plain.

The first train puffed its way into Stony Plain on December 11, 1906. By 1908, the village's population had increased to over 1,000, thus allowing it to become an officially incorporated "Town" on December 10, 1908.

In 1997 the Stony Plain & District Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Stony Plain and the Town of Stony Plain officially launched an ambitious fund raising program to support the construction of "Dog Rump Creek Station". Keeping with Stony Plain's Heritage Tourism Theme the building would be a replica of the original Stony Plain Canadian Northern Railway Station built in 1905. The 2700 sq. ft. multi-use facility would accommodate the Chamber office, a Community Board Room, provide a year round tourist information facility.