Named after German explorer Alexander von Humboldt, Humboldt began as a telegraph station located on the Carlton Trail, a wagon route used in the early days of Western Canada as a route from Fort Garry (Winnipeg) to Fort Edmonton. The name "Humboldt" was approved in 1875 for a site in the North West Territories along the Canadian Pacific Telegraph Line at which a repair station was built (8 km south-west of the present city site). Built in 1878, the Humboldt Telegraph Station played an integral part in communications for the developing West.