It grew up in the mid-1870s around a sawmill operated by two men named Daniels and Spence, who named the community Ingersoll, in honor of the agnostic Robert Ingersoll.
Macyk ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature as a Liberal candidate in the electoral district of Redwater in the 1955 Alberta general election.
Bielish ran for a seat to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1959 Alberta general election as a provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in the electoral district of Redwater.
Following Redwater MLA Nicholas Taylor's appointment to the Senate in 1996, Balsillie ran in the by-election for the Alberta Liberals.