Designed by Canadian Pacific Railway’s engineering department based in Winnipeg, the Strathcona Station was built in 1907 and 1908 by Peter McDermid, a Winnipeg contractor renowned for prairie railway station construction. The station, on Gateway Boulevard (103rd Street) just south of Whyte Avenue, was similar in design to ones in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, also constructed during the same frantic period of expansion into the new province of Alberta.

In the years leading to World War I, thousands of newcomers disembarked here, as the region’s population doubled, launching one of the most extraordinary real estate booms the city has ever seen. The Strathcona station was the centrepiece for the pattern of urban and rural settlement across Alberta. In those days, communities often grew around the railway and the station was the focal point of that settlement.

From its bellcast hip roof, brick and Tyndall stone facade and octagonal tower, the structure exudes an elegant and romantic grace that typified rail travel early in the 20th century. The architecture of the station leans to the Queen Anne style with elements from French and Scottish schools of design.

The Tyndall stone, red decorative brick and timber were all high quality, exquisitely detailed. The original construction cost for the 135 feet long by 38 feet wide structure was $24,382.

The station was complete in January 1908, and the Edmonton Bulletin newspaper gushed over the architecture. "The artistic new building . . . is an attractive feature which cannot fail to impress newcomers," it said.

A story in the January 18, 1908 issue reported that the ground floor of the station included express offices, separate ladies' and mens' waiting rooms, ticket and telegraph offices and gentlemen's smoking room. "In the upstairs, arrangements have been made for superintendents, engineers and dispatchers' offices."

In 1966, the interior was completely gutted and the central office area expanded. Little remained of the original finishes, save for window treatments, some high wooden baseboards and other wood mouldings.

Yet the exterior remained unaltered and it is that preservation that led the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to bestow protection in 1992. The Strathcona Station is designated a heritage railway station under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act. A report compiled by the Board concluded that, "architecturally, the station is a substantial and well-executed example of turn-of-the-century principles in railway station design."

Today, the station ranks as one of Edmonton's best examples of adaptive reuse of a historic building, and enters its second century of life as the Iron Horse Eatery and Watering Hole. The building is also on the city's "A" list of historically significant structures. In recognition of its importance and long service to the communities of Strathcona and Edmonton, the Edmonton Historical Board chose the building for a recognition plaque in 1996.

The arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway into Edmonton in 1905 spurred the CPR to create its own presence on the north side of the river. In 1906, the CPR purchased 6.6 acres of land between Jasper and McKenzie (104th) Avenues and 9th (109th) and 11th (111th) Streets to build its Edmonton rail yard.

By 1907, plans for a bridge across the North Saskatchewan River were in negotiation. The total cost for a bridge built from the top of the bank on one side to top of the bank on the other side of the river was to be almost $1.5 million. Of this, the CPR and the Calgary and Edmonton Railway © & ER) paid $843,000 leaving $586,000 to be split amongst three levels of government.

In 1909, the purchase of property along 9th (109th) Street and along Jasper Avenue was reported in the Edmonton Journal. The cost to the CPR was $102,000 for the land. Officials promised a "handsome" railway station and spoke of building a large hotel at 9th (109th) Street and Jasper Avenue.

The massive High Level Bridge, completed in May 1913, measured 2,550 feet (a half mile) from one end to the other and 152 feet above the mean river level. It was the first bridge in Canada to carry four different modes of traffic – rail, streetcar, automobile and pedestrian. Building it consumed thousands of tons of steel, thousands of yards of concrete and millions of rivets.

The first passenger train, seven cars long and carrying 200 passengers, steamed across the bridge on June 2, 1913. Delays in constructing the train station on Jasper Avenue forced the CPR to open a temporary station at Hardisty (98th) Avenue and 9th (109th) Street, complete with a temporary platform, ticket office, baggage room and checking office.

The station wasn’t quite ready and opened three months later, on September 2, 1913. The first passenger train to arrive that day was the Great West Express, which departed for Wetaskiwin, Camrose, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Built of reinforced concrete, the two-storey station measured 72 feet square, with a one-storey wing to the north, measuring 72 feet by 90 feet. It was later extended by another 50 feet.

The station had an immigrant waiting room, a smoking room and a women's retiring room in its basement along with storage and offices. The main floor had its waiting room finished in marble with terrazzo flooring, ticket offices, telegraph and telephone departments and an information bureau. The second floor was dedicated to offices.

After World War II, the building was stuccoed and painted a beige colour. Passenger service to the station ceased in October 1972 when South Edmonton became the terminus for the Calgary Dayliner Service.

The station was demolished in 1978 and CPR closed most of its downtown operations by 1984. Eight years later, the bridge over Jasper Avenue at 109th Street was dismantled and the pieces shipped to Fort Edmonton Park.