Nestled in the heart of northern Alberta, Grimshaw sits at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 2A, roughly 25 kilometres west of the Town of Peace River. The community also lies along the Mackenzie Northern Railway corridor and holds a distinction that sets it apart from most small Alberta towns: it is officially recognised as Mile Zero of the Mackenzie Highway, the original starting point of Highway 35, which stretches northward to the Northwest Territories.
The town takes its name from Dr. M.E. Grimshaw, a physician originally from Kingston, Ontario, who arrived in the Peace River area in 1914 and spent years serving both patients and local government, eventually retiring from politics as mayor of Peace River in 1922. He later moved to Fairview, where he passed away in November 1929. The site that would become Grimshaw was selected in 1917 by the Central Canada Railway, surveyed in 1921, incorporated as a village in 1930, and elevated to town status in 1953. According to the 2021 federal census, Grimshaw had a population of 2,601 residents living in 1,080 occupied private dwellings, spread across a land area of 7.08 square kilometres, giving it a population density of approximately 367 people per square kilometre. That figure represented a modest decline from 2,718 residents recorded in the 2016 census, which itself reflected growth from 2,515 in 2011. The local economy evolved from its agricultural roots into a distribution hub serving northern Alberta. Community life is marked by a lively calendar of events, including the Alberta Pond Hockey tournament at Lac Cardinal, the North Peace Stampede, Pioneer Days at the Lac Cardinal Pioneer Village Museum, and an Old Fashioned Family Christmas Event, among several others throughout the year.